Many Arsenal fans think the team should recruit a striker during the January transfer window, but Roy Keane may have sent Edu and Mikel Arteta a strong warning.
Arsenal’s players and coaching staff are now in Dubai as the north Londoners make the most of the Premier League’s winter break. Mikel Arteta is putting his team through its paces and giving them some much-needed time off to rest in the sunnier climate. He won’t be back until next Tuesday.
Even though Arsenal doesn’t play Crystal Palace until Saturday, January 20, Arteta might be eager to get the Gunners back in the saddle. Arsenal has to beat the Eagles since they haven’t won in four games. The team’s brutality in front of goal is an issue that needs to be addressed.
In the last three games, the Gunners have only managed one goal; in recent weeks, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, and Martin Odegaard have all failed to take advantage of their opportunities. Because of this, some fans have demanded that the team purchase a striker in January now that the winter transfer market is open.
While names like Borja Mayoral, Ivan Toney, Dusan Vlahovic, and Santiago Gimenez have been linked to a move to Emirates Stadium, it’s not apparent at this point if Arsenal has the financial wherewithal to purchase a player of the level required. “At the moment it does not look realistic,” Arteta said to BeINSports when asked if a new striker may be signed in January.
My responsibility is to help our players get better, and we must work to maximise the performance of the players we already have. There are two things we can do and what we need to do.
“Now is the time to support those players, show them affection, provide them with guidance, and ensure that their visions diverge greatly from what is actually taking place. They succeeded. We won’t have to start from scratch because they’ve already done it.”
Even if Arsenal has struggled to score goals lately, it’s crucial that they avoid panicking and signing a striker just for the sake of signing a striker during the transfer window. After all, the Gunners did finish second to Manchester City in the Premier League with 88 goals last season.
In an interview with the Stick to Football podcast, Roy Keane expressed a similar opinion. “The dynamics [of management], it might change every week,” stated the former captain of Manchester United. You may say, “I think we’re okay.” After a few losses, what transpires? Apply pressure. It’s not just the manager who makes you panic. He’s available; the crew is coming in. He received a call. I recall that [Nicolas] Anelka was at Bolton all the time. We would say, “He’s a good shout,” but an hour later, we would say, “No, forget about him, he’s on £110,000 a week.” I recall all these conversations. You have a list, and you squander so much time and effort.
“I recall sitting down with Niall [Quinn] after we were promoted. Looking at our list of players, we thought, ‘Oh, he’d be good for us, get him in.'” I’m not talking about guys from [Real] Madrid; they were realistic, and as the [names] continued, it was just “no.” As a manager, you do grow desperate, and that’s never a good thing.
The peculiar thing about Erik ten Hag is that many of the players he has added are people he has previously worked with. We are well aware that the playing field is different in the Netherlands, but let’s be honest when we say something like, “They’ve played at a big club in Ajax or whatever,” because Manchester United is not the same as Ajax. I go back to it once again, and the fit or the timing is the issue. On certain occasions, even if you have done your study and a player is exceptionally talented at a club, sometimes things simply don’t work out and they don’t settle down.
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