Although I am sure that all Arsenal fans would rather we had managed to buy Aouar as well as Thomas Partey, but one person who believes that Mikel Arteta has bought well this summer is our legendary manager Arsene Wenger.
The main thing for most of us was persuading Aubameyang to sign his extension, and it looks like Gabriel Magalhaes is the beast of a defender we have been looking for, and with the addition of Partey, the spine of Arteta’s Arsenal team looks much stronger than last season.
Wenger obviously believes Arteta has done enough, and in a long interview in the Guardian, Wenger said in answer to the question: “What one piece of advice would you give Mikel Arteta?” (from Stephen in France)
He replied: “To continue to have a grip on the team, as he has at the moment. And to go to the end of his beliefs. I think there is a good team spirit and they have a good chance to do well. I believe it will not be very difficult to improve on the number of points they got last season.
“But I’m convinced Arsenal can be in the top four, if not more. Why not more? They can be the surprise package for me this year: they bought well, they strengthened the defence well. And they kept the players who were already there. In my last year I bought [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, they kept him. They have every ingredient and no real weakness.”
That is certainly brave words from Arsene, and I gor one, certainly hope he is right!