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According to the Evening Standard, Arteta has indicated that Arsenal are not finished in the summer market following the £75 million acquisition of Guimaraes from Newcastle United.
The club have already secured deals for Illan Meslier, Christos Tzolis, and Piero Hincapie, but Arteta is determined to add further quality. The Gunners are reportedly targeting attacking reinforcements and a versatile defender, as Jurrien Timber and William Saliba are currently unavailable.
When questioned if supporters could expect more arrivals, Arteta stated: "Well that's what we're trying to do. If we have the right player in the market to make us much better, we are very looking forward to that."
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Arsenal have experienced some defensive vulnerabilities during their pre-season preparations, conceding three goals against Borussia Dortmund and another three against Real Betis in Dublin.
However, Arteta refused to solely blame the backline, emphasising that improvement is a collective task for the team. Arteta explained: "I wouldn't go there just to put it isolated there. We conceded some poor goals the other day, some poor goals today. In the way we competed, especially. But that's a very collective responsibility. So we need to improve with the players that we have. And we want to improve for sure." The manager remains confident that his squad have the ability to rectify these issues collectively.
Arteta was extremely enthusiastic about the impact Guimaraes has already made in training. The manager highlighted the Brazilian's attitude and specific technical attributes as vital elements for the future.
Arteta said: "We see very clearly, especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground, the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club. That's the ambition that we need. We want to go to the next level and I'm very, very much convinced that we're going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher. The versatility to play in two different positions in relation to what we want or the opponent does. A player who obviously has tremendous timing and intuition to win the ball back and progress play very, very fast. He's a player that is very comfortable putting people through, moving between the lines, moving in behind. And then he's a goal threat. He's got a smell and a really good timing to get in the box. And he has the capacity to finish the actions."
Bruno Guimaraes Arsenal
Bruno Guimaraes Arsenal
Guimaraes was not ready to feature against Dortmund on Sunday, but fans will not have to wait long to see him in action. The midfielder is expected to be involved when Arsenal face Como on Wednesday night. Following that friendly match, the focus will shift to the highly anticipated Community Shield clash against Manchester City this weekend.