Arsenal prepare to face Tottenham with transfer plans ongoing
Arteta is busy in full preparation for Arsenal's all-important North London Derby clash away to Tottenham on Sunday, and the Spaniard has a few selection headaches to deal with ahead of the mouthwatering encounter.
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While Gabriel Jesus, Riccardo Calafiori and Martin Odegaard are in contention to feature at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Arteta refusing to rule out their inclusion, Arsenal will certainly be without both Mikel Merino and Declan Rice.
Merino is sidelined with a shoulder injury, after he collided with Gabriel Magalhaes in his first ever London Colney training session, while Rice is set to miss Tottenham through suspension - following his sending off at home to Brighton a fortnight ago.
Arsenal's next five Premier League games
Date
Tottenham (away)
September 15
Man City (away)
September 22
Leicester City (home)
September 28
Southampton (home)
October 5
Bournemouth (away)
October 19
Odegaard was thought to be out for weeks, after he was hauled off with an ankle problem in Norway's 2-1 win over Austria, but a real boost for Arteta is that his club captain could actually be available for Sunday, depending on a last-minute assessment.
"Let’s see what happens in the next day or so. This afternoon probably. Let’s see the extent of the injury and how quickly we can get him back. He’s super positive about everything. Martin wants to be here every day, but we have to wait and see.
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“He’s willing and he wants to be present in every game, especially a big game like this one. We need to make sure we know first how good he can be or not.”
As Arteta devises how best to set his team up against Spurs, sporting director Edu Gaspar and co are already making transfer preparations for 2025. Arsenal are frontrunners for Jonathan David, according to some reports, with the Lille striker able to agree pre-contract terms in January ahead of a free summer move.
Meanwhile, there are claims that Arsenal have already made contact over Benjamin Sesko as they eye another swoop for the Slovenian (CaughtOffside), coming after they failed to tempt the forward with an offer this year.
Arsenal plotting marquee move for Bayern Munich star Leroy Sane
According to GiveMeSport, former Man City star and Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane is on their list of targets for next year too. The once-£137 million forward, who earns around £325,000-per-week at the Allianz Arena, would still be a costly operation for the Gunners despite Sane's contract expiring next summer.
The Germany international's salary would make him Arteta's highest-paid player, but it is believed that Arsenal are plotting a "potential big-money" move for Sane regardless, alongside fellow Premier League side Newcastle United.
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Arsenal could have an advantage over the Magpies due to Arteta, with Sane expressing just how highly he regards the tactician.
"I can just say positive things about Mikel Arteta. Since we started working together, he helped me a lot on the pitch," said Sane on Arteta in an interview with The Independent.
"He tried to improve my football; he told me what I did good and what I did wrong, and he tried to work on it. Next to Pep, they both really helped me and improved me, to bring me to the next level.
“Even now, at Arsenal, for me you can see he’s doing a great job. You can see he has a concept, a way that he wants to play, a way that he wants his team to play, and obviously it will take some time until everybody really understands it. I think he will do a great job as a [head] coach too."
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