Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed the Gunners' plans for the Transfer Deadline Day amid issues in midfield and out wide.
The Gunners have spent around £120million so far on new recruits for now and the future. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have shown their credentials already in the early knockings of 2022/23, whilst Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira and Matt Turner have also come in.
Before the Injury predicament significantly worsened over the last few days, a winger to replace Nicolas Pepe was the main area that was seemingly on the transfer agenda approaching Deadline Day, but Mohamed Elneny's fresh injury coupled with Thomas Partey's unreliability has prompted frantic action to be taken in the midfield areas. Now Arteta has confirmed worrying updates on both.
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"That's not good news," Arteta told football.london after the Gunners' 2-1 win over Aston Villa when asked about the severity of Elneny's injury. "We still need to see another specialist, but I'm afraid that we're gonna lose Mo for a while."
Regarding Partey, he said: "He's going to be out for a while. I don't know how long that period is going to be. It's not the first injury he had in that area, so the recovery is more for the doctors to put the timeline and see how he evolves."
With those two players now out for a while and Oleksandr Zinchenko still not deemed fit enough to be in the squad for Aston Villa after sustaining a knee injury last week. Arteta went on to admit that the late disruption had impacted Arsenal's transfer policy in the final few days.
"Well, we were pretty protected in that position, and now we are more exposed," he said. "We have to be prepared for uncertainties, injuries and suspensions. Things like that can happen, especially this season which is going to be really strange with the World Cup. We try to protect from that, but it's not easy."
When pressed on if the Gunners would be going to complete any business before the window closes on Thursday at 23:00, Arteta went on to confirm that Arsenal were open to bringing someone in if the opportunity presented itself.
"The club has been super supportive to keep improving the squad and the team as we can," he said. "If the right player is available and we can do it we will try."
Leicester's Youri Tielemans and Palmeiras' Danilo have been linked as players who could come in before the August 1 deadline. The main question regarding any late business now has been over how much Arsenal would have to spend amid reports they are on UEFA's Financial Fair Play watchlist. Arteta, though admitted that was out of his hands.
"I'm not a financial guy," the Spaniard said. "It's a question for somebody else."
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