Mikel Arteta has expressed his disappointment over Arsenal’s inactivity in the January transfer window, with the club failing to make any new signings.
The Gunners entered the mid-season window open to exploring opportunities across various areas of the squad.
Despite heavy scouting of centre-back Vitor Reis and discussions with midfielder Sverre Nypan, Arsenal was unable to secure any deals.
Reis eventually signed with Manchester City, while Nypan opted to delay his decision until the summer.
Arsenal later turned their focus to signing a striker, but their bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins was rejected.
The club did not pursue any other attacking targets with serious intent, apart from a brief interest in Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel.
“We had a clear intention which is always there is a window open to explore opportunities to improve our squad with players that can impact it,” Mikel Arteta explained to reporters on Tuesday.
“We haven’t achieved it so we are disappointed in that sense but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring in certain kinds of players and we have to be very disciplined with that as well, and I think that we were.”
Arsenal were once considered the frontrunners to sign Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz during the autumn, but their pursuit ultimately faltered due to internal discussions over resource allocation.
With Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus sidelined by injuries, Mikel Arteta reportedly questioned whether spending close to £30million on Luiz would provide the immediate impact the squad needed.
As a result, Arsenal shifted their focus to Ollie Watkins, submitting an initial £40million bid to Aston Villa.
However, the offer fell short of Villa’s valuation of the England international.
Any potential willingness from Villa to negotiate was then taken off the table once they secured a significant fee from Jhon Durán’s transfer to Al Nassr.
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