Mikel Arteta is well aware of the importance of a full pre-season schedule for his Arsenal squad.
"Obviously the physical aspect is very important," the Gunners manager said when speaking to the club's official website last summer. "After five weeks, the players need to get in good shape and the best possible condition to compete at the levels that the Premier League requires.
"Then mentally, we need to prepare the team with the ideas that we have, with the values that we have, with the ambition that we want to take into the league. Third, to get the cohesion of the team right, the understanding of the game, what we are looking for, our game model, our principles, and how we're going to develop that in the next five weeks to get to the Premier League in the best possible stage."
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Ahead of the 2022/23 season, it's safe to say Arsenal are on course to meet those three requirements. Firstly, the majority of the first-team squad have been in pre-season training for a fortnight with those who were on international duty last month joining up this week after being afforded extra time off.
One can assume Arteta has been drilling home what's expected of the squad next season as a top-four finish has to be the aim after narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification in the 2021/22 campaign. In terms of squad cohesion, getting deals done for Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Gabriel Jesus before the second week of July has certainly helped.
Aside from Vieira, the Gunners' summer signings featured in the 5-3 win over FC Nurnberg on Friday afternoon with the £45m arrival from Manchester City catching the eye with two goals and linking up well with Eddie Nketiah during the 45 minutes of his non-competitive debut.
Taking into account that the World Cup will take place in the winter instead of the summer and the havoc it will create for Arsenal with regards to their fixture list at the start of next season, it would be beneficial if Arteta has his squad, or at least the main bulk of it, in place before the opener against Crystal Palace on August 5.
Now the Spaniard has revealed that the north London outfit remain in the market to bolster their squad before deadline day, although in typical fashion, Arteta has refused to comment on any specific targets by name: "We never talk about players that are not ours," he said after the win over Nurnberg.
Based on links to Alex Grimaldo, Lisandro Martinez, Lucas Paqueta and Youri Tielemans it would appear that Arsenal are keen on signing a versatile defender as well as a central midfielder. In addition, the pursuit of Leeds United's Raphinha indicates they are open to the idea of strengthening the right-wing department.
But what would be the chances of any of the aforementioned players being integrated into the Gunners squad whilst on the USA tour over the next fortnight affording Arteta the opportunity to improve the cohesion of his team in games against Everton, Orlando City and Chelsea if they were to sign?
Well, for any new Arsenal signing to be involved in all three games on the USA tour they would ideally have to be unveiled before the squad are due to fly out on July 13. That doesn't leave too much time for Arteta and technical director Edu to wrap up deals as this particular deadline is looming fast.
With that said, there should be no reason why the Gunners can't complete a transfer, or two, after the squad touches down in America and the new signing(s) joins up with the team at a later date - as long as they can show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before travelling.
Of course, any deal would have to be done before July 15 at the latest to be involved against Everton then July 20 is a potential deadline to feature against Orlando City and July 23 to face Chelsea.
In the event that Arsenal don't make another signing until after the USA pre-season tour is over, the final warm-up game currently pencilled in before the new Premier League season gets underway against Crystal Palace is an Emirates Cup clash against Sevilla on July 30.
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