Arteta makes exciting Arsenal transfer claim

Arsenal are preparing for Sunday’s FA Cup third round clash with Nottingham Forest amid a backdrop of transfer speculation, with players set to leave and the hope of players coming in.

Sanctioning the departure of Ainsley Maitland-Niles to Roma was a surprise call from Mikel Arteta in the winter, with the numbers in central midfield perilously low at present.

Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny’s involvement at AFCON leaves the Gunners with just two senior central midfielders, one of whom is still only 22 years old and new to the Premier League, while the other could be out having not been pictured in training.

Arteta was tight-lipped on absences for Sunday’s match, but revealed that there are ‘issues’ his side are dealing with. Granit Xhaka, based on the reports, appears to be one of them.

Mikel Arteta makes exciting Arsenal claim on transfers by confirming the club will look to sign a midfielder in the January window

That wasn’t all the manager discussed in his pre-match press conference, as the topic of transfers emerged.

It was already felt that the club would have to dip into the market to bolster the centre of the pitch after Maitland-Niles’ move, but Arteta provided both an exciting – and worrying – update on the situation.

"“We are very, very short [in midfield] at the moment,” he said.“We are going to move and we are going to look for options because we are very short there.”"

There it is. Confirmation from the boss that Arsenal are actively seeking reinforcements this window. But it’s a doubled edged sword. Insisting a mixture of Covid and injuries have left the squad dangerously thin is concerning with huge matches against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup and Tottenham in the Premier League on the horizon.

Youngster Charlie Patino has already been tipped for involvement, purely based on necessity, but with just one senior appearance to his name Arteta can’t risk throwing him in at the deep end at Anfield next Thursday.

While Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard could drop deeper into midfield, their skillsets are best suited to advanced areas and their better traits are otherwise limited in those roles.

There have been precious few concrete links to midfielders this window, with Lyon’s Bruno Guimaraes on the wishlist, and the lists might start being acted upon following Arteta’s latest comments.