Here are your Arsenal evening headlines for Thursday, January 7.
Zaha reveals when he stopped supporting Arsenal
Wilfried Zaha admitted that he stopped supporting Arsenal when he moved to Manchester United, recognising that he needed to add a greater competitiveness to his game and had to drop the "fanboy" act.
Zaha grew up as an Arsenal supporter and has consistently been linked with a move to the Emirates as a result. But as a professional, he says that he no longer supporters the Gunners.
"I supported Arsenal when I was growing up, my whole family supported Arsenal actually," he told Jamie Carragher's Greatest Game podcast. "It's only when I moved to Man United that I stopped supporting anyone in general."
Carragher then asked whether Zaha was still supporting Arsenal in his first spell at Crystal Palace, before he moved to United. Zaha replied: "I was still rooting for them.
"When I went to Man United, I feel like it's a whole different mindset over there because you're competing against these teams now so you can't be much of a fanboy like you were before. So yeah, that's when my mentality changed."
Arteta provides Balogun update
Mikel Arteta says that Arsenal are trying to tie Folarin Balogun to a long-term deal but hinted that the 19-year-old's agent is holding up proceedings.
Balogun is in the final six months of his contract and is free to speak with overseas clubs. Arteta says that he and the club want Balogun to stay, but admitted that a deal requires three parties.
"Well, you need three parties to make a deal," he said. "For sure the club wants to make a deal, the manager wants to make a deal, and I'm not sure about the agent."
When pushed on whether he believes the agent is holding up the deal, Arteta added: "No, I'm not saying he’s stopping it’s that we need to find an agreement with him. We are negotiating at the end with an agent, with a player that wants to stay at the club and we need to find an agreement.
"I’m telling you that we are doing everything we can to keep him here. And hopefully, from the other part, they’re doing the same and defending the same interest which is the player’s interests which is to stay at the club and be successful with us."
First January signing unveiled
Arsenal have confirmed the signing of teenage defender Omar Rekik from Hertha Berlin.
The 19-year-old is a ball playing centre half and will join up with Steve Bould's under-23 side for the remainder of the season.
Arteta had said in today's press conference an announcement was imminent. "We will announce it when we possibly can. He's a young talent we've been following for a while that we believe has a bright future," said Arteta.
When pushed on a timeframe for the announcement, the Arsenal boss added: "I don't know, very soon".
