We want club that is sustainable but can compete at the highest level, admits Mikel Arteta

With Arsenal finishing eighth in the Premier League last season, it had many fans and critics alike concerned at the direction the club was going. That was despite the club’s form towards the end of the season with the concerns continuing following the North Londoners’ poor start to the 2021/22 season. However, while the club did go into the international break losing their opening three games for the first time in decades, they also finished the transfer window with a  club record spend of £145 million.

It was the most spent by a Premier League club this summer but that hasn’t assuaged any fears or critics with there more concerns as to the players Arsenal signed. However, Mikel Arteta has revealed that there was a specific plan behind the club’s spending this summer as they were looking to create a sustainable model that helps them compete at the “highest level”. He also added that Gunners needed to “recruit in a lot of positions” and thus needed to be smart to do that.

"In recent years, and what we have inherited, the fact that we don’t play in Europe, needed a substantial change. We want a club that is sustainable, that is stable financially but the same time can compete at the highest level, because we know the demands for our club is to be the best. We have to do that,” Arteta said, reported Goal.

"On top of that, we needed to recruit in a lot of positions. In order to do that, we had to spread the money and how it was spent wisely.  Then we had to be very specific with the qualities, the targets we want that can reach the potential that is required at that level with the competition we have with other teams, to reach that .  The whole strategy was around that, making those decisions as quickly as possible that could give us big margins of improvement in a short period of time."