“We are active!” Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus’ injury, signing a replacement and Kai Havertz abuse
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has spoken with the press ahead of Wednesday night’s north London derby against Tottenham.
The Gunners boss gave an update on Gabriel Jesus, who suffered what is feared to be an ACL injury in the FA Cup defeat against Manchester United at the weekend.
He also spoke about the transfer window, Riccardo Calafiori’s fitness and the abuse Kai Havertz and his family have suffered since the penalty shootout loss against United.
Here is a selection of what Arteta had to say.
On Gabriel Jesus
“We know more now and it’s not looking good at all, but we need to review one more specialist, so we should have more information this afternoon.”
On whether it is an ACL injury
“I don’t want to confirm anything until we have the final report, it’s the doctor’s job to do that. But we were very worried straight away after the game and we are very worried today.
On other team news
“We have one more training session, there are a few who can be close. Again, this afternoon we will have the full info on the squad on who is available and who is not.”
On Riccardo Calafiori’s injury
“His thing is not too much, but we need another day or two. When you are playing every three days, 24 hours becomes really important because they are not long-term injuries, on that case for example. We’ll have more understanding this afternoon.”
On Jorginho
“He was cramping, Jurrien was exactly the same. So we had a few players struggling to finish the game. He (Jorginho) is fine.”
On whether Jesus’ injury changes his thinking for the transfer window
“My answer doesn’t change. My answer remains the same. We are actively looking in the market to improve the squad, that has been the same since day one. We would be naive not to do that because it’s an opportunity always to evolve the team, to improve the squad. Especially with the circumstances that we have. So yes, we are looking, we are trying. Let’s see what we are able to do.”
Do you believe now you have to bring in an out and out striker?
“We have to believe that we bring something that is going to make something better. It is in any position, because we have other issues as well. We need to understand that a player can bring a lot to the team in different ways. Nobody can guarantee you nothing. Not one player on the market can guarantee. We are going to hope and try to work on somebody who we can believe can do that, that’s what we are trying to do.”
You said after Sunday that signing players was ‘not in your hands’. What did you mean by that?
“When you recruit a player there are three parties and you have to agree to that and we have our limitations as well, like any other club. We can do what we can do and we plan our squad and we have our limits to do what we want to do, that’s it. The fact that I love our players a lot doesn’t mean that we can not think about improving. I’m not that stubborn. We all want the same, that we use every opportunity to improve the squad daily and when the market comes in that we can do that to make sure that we have the best resources and the best capacity to compete in the manner we want.”
On the abuse towards Kai Havertz and his wife
“It’s incredible, honestly and we really have to do something about it because accepting that and hiding this I think has terrible consequences. It’s something we really have to eradicate from the game because it’s so cynical and it’s so depending on the result of an action and there is no other industry like this. When we played Ipswich it was the December 27th at home, we win 1-0, Kai Havertz scores the goal and the whole stadium after is singing the Waka Waka. That’s 20 days ago. Guys, what is the perspective?
“We are all responsible, everybody is responsible for the narrative, everyone is responsible for how we talk and we cannot look somewhere else. That’s a really serious matter guys. That affects him, it affects me, it affects everybody that is in the industry. We can accept and say, it is our job. But there are certain limits and the line has to be drawn. We put a lot of attention on technology and what is next in football. The next in football is that this is prohibited. It cannot happen. That’s it, that’s what we should aim for.”
On a trip away during the FA Cup fourth round weekend
“Yes, we are looking now. We are looking at options. I think the calendar is a bit dependent on what happens with the Champions League as well, so we are looking and trying to plan the options.”