Mikel Arteta faces a summer rebuild job at Arsenal with several players being targeted ahead of the transfer window, football.london understands. While the Europa League may provide a pathway for the club’s burgeoning youngsters, the likes of Folarin Balogun, Charlie Patino, Marcelo Flores and Miguel Azeez will be licking their lips at potentially increasing their first team opportunities.
Arteta's targets include a marquee signing in Gabriel Jesus, with the Gunners confident of landing his signature. Arsenal first made enquiries for Jesus in November with Edu maintaining a close relationship with the player's agent and the City forward himself. The Brazil international is expected to get more minutes between now and the end of the season, with the Gunners expected to lodge a bid in the region of £35million this summer.
Arsenal technical director Edu has confirmed that he is 'excited' for the club's plans in the summer transfer window. "The budget we used last summer, we prefer to use it to rebalance the squad, there was no point in hiring one or two players [in January], the squad was not prepared to absorb two players, we needed to rebalance the squad," Edu told ESPN Brasil.
