He Wants To Stay And Contribute - Mikel Arteta On Arsenal Star's Future
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Sep 12, 2020
Arteta steered Arsenal to a 14th FA Cup success against Chelsea last month and was pivotal in helping convince Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to agree a new three-year contract.
Arsenal have announced that Mikel Arteta's job title has changed from head coach to first-team manager.
There were some suggestions he also became part of the Gabriel Magalhaes transfer as the Brazil youth worldwide defender joined from Lille last month.
Arsenal's new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has defended the club's restructuring and suggested the Gunners could "afford to miss out" on Champions League football next season.
"There is still some work to do, but we have to bear in mind the complications of this market". We select players based on the position we need to strengthen and the characteristics we are looking for in a player and if the player is out there who meets those characteristics.
The 22-year-old's huge potential has alerted a number of European clubs with the likes of Manchester City and Juventus linked in recent weeks but Arsenal are reportedly the only club to formalise their interest in the midfielder.
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But one player who has polarised opinions of late and recently defended his decision not to join the majority of his team-mates in taking a pay cut in an attempt to reduce job losses across the business is Mesut Ozil.
Despite experiencing something of a renaissance since Mikel Arteta took over from Unai Emery, the speculation over Aubameyang's future represented something of a cloud over the club, with fans fearing that they might lose the 31-year-old for free next summer or for a reduced fee this year.
"I think they can be pretty relaxed", he said.
Arteta said in a press conference when asked about Lacazette: "He is really happy here, he wants to keep improving and contributing to the team".
"I know how good he is and the impact he is having".
Arteta could therefore look to hand debuts to either Gabriel or William Saliba, while Willian will be pushing to be included further forward.
