Mikel Arteta today claimed there is a “50/50 chance” of Arsenal signing anyone before the January transfer window closes.
The Gunners are in the market for a defender with Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykola Matviyenko the latest name to be linked with the club, along with Dayot Upamecano of Red Bull Salzburg and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng.
Matviyenko’s agent, Yuriy Danchenko, claims Arsenal have been in regular contract over a move and while Arteta refused to be drawn on individual names, the Spaniard hinted that the club’s hopes of bolstering their squad are now firmly in the balance.
“At the moment, I am 50/50 [about bringing anyone in] because this transfer window is very, very complicated,” he said.
“I only want to bring somebody in if I'm really convinced that he can really improve the level that we have.
“I'm not going to be discussing any transfer links publicly. It's something that we are trying to do internally and when we have news we will communicate with you guys.
“We've been looking at different positions. Obviously, since I joined we lost Calum [Chambers to a knee injury] and we had other circumstances and injuries in those positions so it's true that at the back we've been short.
"But there are other positions as well, depending on what happens in the market, that we might need to assess.”
