It could be a challenging transfer window for Mikel Arteta.
Mikel Arteta has delivered some Arsenal FC transfer news that none of us wanted to hear, but that will hardly come as a big surprise.
Following our Europa League exit on Thursday night, we now face an uphill struggle to find any other way into the Champions League, with winning the Europa having looked a little more realistic on paper than a late run that could propel us into fourth in the Premier League table.
It’s clear that another season out of Europe’s top club competition is going to hit us financially, and Arteta has admitted it could mean he has some tough decisions to make when it comes to rebuilding his squad this summer.
As quoted in a report from Goal, the Spanish tactician doesn’t explicitly say this means he’ll have to sell before he can buy, but it sounds like that’s what he’s alluding to with his comments as he admits our budget will be restricted.
“The damage caused by the club not being in the Champions League for the third season is really big,” he said.
“Financially the impact is enormous because the structure of this club is built to be in the Champions League and you can sustain that for one year or two, but then after you have to start making decisions.
“So we will have to make decisions one way or the other depending on the scenario we find ourselves in, whether we are in the Champions League, Europa League or nowhere near that.
“And we’ll have a very clear plan of what we want to do and depending where we are we have to act like this.”