Mikel Arteta has made it clear that this is a very crucial transfer window for Arsenal, and there are bound to be some outgoings that will hopefully generate added transfer funds for Arteta to bring in the players he wants to complete his jigsaw.
One of those is fully expected to be Hector Bellerin and he has been linked with many clubs since January, but when Arteta was asked about the right-back ahead of tomorrow’s game again Brighton, the boss said: “Hector is not fit [for Sunday] so he will not be playing the last time. Like everybody that has a contract, he remains here.”
It’s telling that Arteta said “the last time” and not ‘the last game’, and I don’t think that many people can take his words seriously that “everybody who has a contract’ will be staying. Is that even possible?
One person who really doesn’t believe him is the Arsenal expert Charlie Watts, who is adamant that Bellerin is likely to have played his last game for the Gunners. He told his YouTube channel: “People will look at that [Arteta’s comments] and think ‘Oh Hector’s definitely staying’ but I wouldn’t go that far. There’s conversations to be had. Everybody’s in agreement that this might well be Hector Bellerin’s last season at Arsenal. Again, it depends on a few things like what interested clubs there are.”
Even if Bellerin does stay after all, I still find it impossible to believe that ‘EVERYBODY who has a contract’ will stay.
Do any Arsenal fans believe that statement from Arteta?