Former Arsenal defender David O'Leary has heaped praise on the shoulders of Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta - but has urged the club's hierarchy to back him in the transfer window as the club aims to bridge the gap on their Premier League rivals.
Since landing the role as Arsenal head coach back in December, following the sacking of former boss Unai Emery, Arteta had made a positive start to life at the Emirates Stadium ahead of the coronavirus shutdown, with the club beginning to show signs of recovery after a torrid first half of the campaign.
Though plenty of work is still to be done in Arteta's attempts to try and turn Arsenal back into top-four contenders, the signs are already proving encouraging, with the supporters having already bought into the Spaniard's methods.
However, if Arteta is to be successful in his attempts to turn to the club's fortunes around, he is, according to O'Leary, who spent 20 years on the Gunners' books, going to have to receive all of the necessary support in the transfer market.
“I don’t think he’s put a foot wrong off the field,” O'Leary told talkSPORT, as he praised Arteta's work at the Emirates Stadium so far.
“There are things that he’s done that nobody knows about. But what you can say, what he’s come in behind the scenes and done has just been absolutely fantastic.
“The way he’s handled himself, the way he’s handled himself through this crisis and the things he’s done without seeking publicity, the things he’s implemented structurally at the club, I don’t think he’s put a foot wrong.
“I think he has a hard task, without a doubt, he’s come in and taken a hard job on. He needs players.
“The squad he has he will make better. Will that push them towards being a top-four club? No, I don’t see that.
“I think where he is going to be judged is on recruitment. It’s easier said than done, but you’ve got to get players out.
“That’s hard to do and he’ll be judged on that, but he’ll also be certainly judged on the personnel he brings in.”
Though the club's transfer budget is not expected to be sizeable by the time the next transfer window comes around, the Gunners have been linked with a plethora of big-name stars, including the likes of Dayot Upamecano and Thomas partey.
