Mikel Arteta has spoken to the media at the National Stadium in Singapore ahead of Arsenal’s pre-season friendly against AC Milan on Wednesday evening. Landing in the country on Sunday, it is the start of a big two weeks for the Gunners as they prepare for the new Premier League season.
New Arsenal signings Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi and Martin Odegaard have made the trip with their new teammates. Unfortunately for the Gunners, Viktor Gyokeres and Cristhian Mosquera are not present as their transfers from Sporting CP and Valencia respectively have not yet gone through.
Following their arrival in Singapore, Arteta spent time with the media at a press conference at the National Stadium to discuss the AC Milan game, the club’s summer tour, transfers and so much more. You can read a full transcript of what the Spaniard had to say to the media below
A very good period in Spain. Trained really hard with the new signings. Super exited to be here. An incredible welcome from our supporters here, they are so passionate. And adapting to the context, the weather we were unable to train today. We have to adapt to those situations too and very excited to have a successful tour.
It’s like shaking the tree again. Bringing new faces, they bring new excitement, new energy as well. We signed very important players as well. I think everybody feels that the heights have to go to different level and it’s what we are seeking.
They are fully convinced. The good thing is I don’t have to convince them. They know how good they are and how close we have been. At the end it is those details that make you make the next step which we all want. It’s just working on them and realising where they are.
The basic things that we need to have throughout the season to put us in the best competitive chances to put us in the best probability to achieve our goals. That is daily work. That is a responsibility in each individual as well.
It was a long process and he had a lot of opportunities to decide about whether he wanted to come. The good news is that this club is amazing and everyone wants to come to it. He left some very good opportunities to come to us.
We are all very impressed about what we have seen over the last 7-10 days. Because once you have the player daily and you see his character, his personality, his character and how much he is going to bring to the team. Very excited about it.
I cannot comment on any player who is not part of our group yet. When we have something concrete to offer in any case to any player we will do that.
There’s still a long time in the window and we are seeking still, in terms of numbers, we are short and we have to improve the depth and quality of the squad. We are constantly looking in the market. Until that happens, focus on the players we have and focus on them and I’m very pleased with what I have seen in the last 10-15 days.
They have an opportunity and the window is open. Whoever knocks so hard and kicks that door is going to have that opportunity. We are going to have games now so it is up to them
