Good morning, here are your Arsenal headlines for Thursday, 16 July.
Cabellos price revealed
Dani Ceballos has become a regular starter for Arsenal since Mikel Arteta took over as manager.
Injury and inconsistency had previously hampered the 23-year-old’s involvement, but his time at the club could soon be over for good.
His loan from Real Madrid expires at the end of the season and there is no automatic option to buy in place at the moment.
Arteta has made it clear he wants to keep Ceballos, and Marca report that his future will be decided by Real boss Zinedine Zidane.
The depth of midfield options available to Los Blancos means he is likely to be made available, probably for around €25m, but Arsenal will not have a clear run at the player. Both Valencia and his former club Real Betis are said to be keen on Ceballos.
Arteta to make right call
A rotating cast at right-wing back means the Arsenal boss has a big call to make on who his strongest partnership will be.
The Gunners have looked solid down the left since switching to a 3-4-3 system, but each of Hector Bellerin, Cedric Soares and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have had time on the pitch without looking truly convincing down the right.
Arteta has a decision to make on Maitland-Niles this summer, with the youngster wanting more game time than he is currently getting at the Emirates.
It’s halfway there for the boss, in terms of fixing his wide areas and establishing partnerships, but he faces a big call to get the right side right.
Concerning admission
Mikel Arteta is well aware of the need to rebuild his squad with “quality” players if he’s to make the Gunners competitive again.
But the issue at present is that he doesn’t know if he’ll be handed the financial power to do so.
"I don't know, it's a big concern," he told Sky Sports when asked if he’ll be backed in the market this summer.
"You need it to build a squad. It’s not magic. You need to improve with quality players,and you need bigger squads to compete in this competition.There’s the challenge.”
Arteta felt his side matched Liverpool for “energy, commitment and fight” as they beat the champions 2-1 last night, but acknowledges there is still a huge gap to overcome in other areas
