Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has claimed the current iteration of his squad is the strongest he has seen during his time at the Emirates Stadium.
In their bid to address three years of second-placed finishes in the Premier League, Arsenal spent heavily in the summer transfer window to recruit Viktor Gyökeres, Martín Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Piero Hincapié, Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Nørgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga, with squad depth a key priority for Arteta.
“It’s been excellent for what we needed, and what we wanted to achieve,” Arteta told TNT Sports of his side’s recruitment this summer. “We are very lucky players want to come to Arsenal now and they prefer to go to Arsenal than somewhere else, and this is an unbelievable power as well that we have built and gives us our very best chance.
“We talked last year about the Premier League and we’ve been three years there with the amount of points that normally you are the Premier League winner, but the level is somewhere that has never been before which is great.
“In terms of recruitment, we’re in a much better place in terms of the squad last year. We’re trying to do everything that we can.”
In the eyes of Athletic Club, Arsenal’s opponents for their first Champions League league phase game on Tuesday, Arteta has succeeded in building a favourite to win the European trophy.
“They are one of the favourites to win the Champions League thanks to their technical and tactical ability, and the winning spirit that Arteta has instilled in them,” manager Ernesto Valverde said ahead of the game.
That stance was shared by Athletic and Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón, who told The Guardian: “We’ll have to be careful. Arsenal are one of the teams we most like watching.
“You watch the draw wanting the easiest teams possible, although there aren’t any. Well, you do if you are a player anyway. You ask my mum and what she wants is nice cities. The only one I wanted really [as an experience] was [Borussia] Dortmund away and we got it. We got Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, which is very hard, but that’s how it is. My mum would have liked London or Paris, but if we’re going to get them I’m glad it’s at San Mamés.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Much Better’—Mikel Arteta Makes Bold Arsenal Claim Ahead of Champions League Opener.
