It’s becoming pretty clear that Mikel Arteta needs a few transfer windows to overhaul this Arsenal squad, but he needs to get better results if he wants to earn that time.
There hasn’t been a clear transfer strategy so far with Thomas Partey, Willian and Gabriel coming in at different stages of their career, but they just don’t have the money to go out and sign a new team of established stars who can take them back towards the top four.
It’s likely that that they’ll need to develop some talented younger players and hope that they go on to become genuine superstars – they can raise the level of the team and help them win games, but they can also be sold for huge profits which can then be recycled back into the team too.
ESPN have indicated that Arsenal are tracking Porto forward Fabio Vieira ahead of a potential transfer, but he’s a very different player to the club legend with the same surname.
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He can play anywhere across the attacking midfield line but he’s at his best in a central role where he can create, while he’s impressed in the Champions League this season which has to be encouraging too.
They quote Portuguese outlet Record in suggesting that he has a release clause of €30m which could be reasonable, but the same could be said of William Saliba and he can’t get anywhere close to the first team.
This is his first season in senior football so there’s a limited sample size to judge him on, but if Arsenal do sign him then it’s probably an indication that Mikel Arteta feels very secure in his position.
A player like Vieira will need a couple of years to develop into a top class player so Arteta needs to be confident that he’s still around for that, while some short term veteran signings would suggest he’s panicking and simply wants to worry about winning now to save his job,