Arsenal won’t sell prized assets to fund recruitment drive, insists Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal cannot sell their prized assets to raise funds for new recruits this summer.

The Gunners have been linked to a number of players in recent weeks, most notably to Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey.

While the club broke their transfer record to land Nicolas Pepe last summer, that deal was structured over a period of time so that all £72million was not paid in a lump sum.

Such figures appear to be out of the reach of Arsenal at the moment, which has led to speculation that some players would have to be moved on to fund any big-money summer signings.

But Arteta, who saw his side win their third game in six days with a comfortable 4-0 win over Norwich on Wednesday does not feel that is the right approach.

Asked if the club would have to sell to bring in new players, he replied: “We don’t know how the market is going to be.

“Obviously we are putting different plans together to see what we are going to be able to do. At the moment the uncertainty is still big.

“We have seen different things. The way that Chelsea is dealing with the market is different to rest at the moment, but Bayern Munich as well they’ve have been really aggressive.

“So I don’t know. But if you ask me, we cannot be a team that has to sell his best player to try to bring in and improve our squad. That’s for sure.”

Arteta takes his side to Wolves on Saturday looking to maintain their recent upturn in results against one of their rivals for a European place.

While the Spaniard would not be drawn on specific targets to improve his squad whether continental football is achieved or not, he revealed he has the blueprints in his head for the 2020-21 season.

“I cannot talk about interest or players that play for any other team that is not ours,” he added.

“I have a very clear plan and specifications of the players and the positions and the squad balance that we will need to be able to compete with the top teams in the country.”

Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to Molineux, although Arteta did concede he has not made a decision on whether to include Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi in his travelling squad.