Mikel Arteta has already advised Arsenal against signing Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo.
This summer, the Gunners have been heavily connected with yet another Manchester City duo in the transfer market, but Mikel Arteta appears to have already made his decision on them.
According to Mikel Arteta, this summer will be the most “crucial” in his tenure as Arsenal manager. The Gunners have supervised a significant squad revamp over the last two seasons, allowing them to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League crown this season.
After eventually falling short, Arteta has recognized that his team needs to improve if they want to compete in both the Premier League and the Champions League next season. “I know we’re not at that level, but we have to find a way,” the Spaniard stated following Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. “This is not good enough.”
It’s no secret that players like Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo are on his radar as he attempts to do so. However, two far more prominent names have now been strongly linked.
Arsenal are allegedly interested in signing Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo from Manchester City. If the transfers are completed, it will be the second summer in a row that they have recruited a pair of players from Pep Guardiola’s side, following the additions of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus last summer.
The former City combination have clearly had a significant impact on the Gunners this summer, propelling them to heights few imagined possible. However, when it comes to signing two more players from the club where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach, Arteta has issued a caution.
Arsenal faced Brighton in the Premier League two weeks ago. This season, the Seagulls have been a major success story in the Premier League, punching far above their weight through savvy scouting and trade market sales. Many questioned whether Arsenal should consider following a similar methodology of seeing the next great thing before everyone else in order to save money in the transfer market. Arteta, on the other hand, stated his opposition to the policy.
“No, you cannot replicate it,” he said prior to the Gunners’ 3-0 defeat a fortnight ago. “I think the model that Brighton has is great for Brighton, we cannot have the same model, we have to have a different model. I’m sure there are things we can apply to our model that they do extremely well, but it’s a different model, they have different demands, they have a different size of club, and probably a different approach as well, so it would be a mistake in my opinion to try to do that.”
As Arsenal looks to add more Manchester City players, some may argue that they are imitating too much from the Etihad Stadium. Make no mistake: Gundogan and Cancelo would be fantastic additions. With Granit Xhaka poised to go, the former would add another level of talent to the left eight position, while the latter would provide the invert from full-back that Kieran Tierney has lacked this season.
However, as Arsenal seeks to do things their own way in the transfer market, signing two more City players may be something they wish to avoid. The duo would strengthen the squad, but other players would do the same, and the Gunners must carve their own route to success.
