Hours after the transfer star of January was closed, Mikel Arteta defended Arsenal Fervent's policy not to apply offensive reinforcements in a press conference on 4 February.
Firstly, the Gunners boss claimed that the decision was not a gamble, despite the fact that Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka were deposited with long-term injuries and Kai Havertz are the only fit center Vooruit.
Made to whether Havertz could play every game without rest for the rest of the season, Arteta said yes, stumbled over the robustness of the German and labeled him a 'genetic powerhouse'.
With the failed recruitment Spush, Arteta added: “We are disappointed, but we have to go further. Nobody knows if it is better to have done it or not. We will know at the end of the season. “
Eight days later, and Arteta has all his answer: it was an unmistakable, disastrous decision – one that sees the rest of their campaign that falters on the edge of the collapse. Duration is an understatement.
Havertz-that physical copy of a man who takes the right way for himself cracked his hamstring during a training session about the center of the club in the middle of the season hot weather to Dubai this week.
It is very unlikely that we will see Overtz again in an Arsenal shirt until the 2025/26 season.
The Midden -East has often been a location to activate a revival in shape, a journey there in January 2024 almost almost the arsenal to the Prem title to be hit by Manchester City on the last day.
Now it must be the place of nightmares for Arteta, his indictment of catching Prem leader Liverpool and to rest progress in the Champions League at the feet of his three remaining fit options: Leandro Trossard, the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and Disappearing Summer Bags Raheem Sterling.
With Gabriel Martinelli he also expects that he would be out with a hamstring tribe for at least a month, Arteta has to survive for three months without a recognized center Vooruit.
Martinelli and Saka will insist on a return in March, but to throw them back immediately would be a huge risk – but what choice does Arteta have now? A well of despair he helped dig.
The debt was not only with Arteta's door – interim sports director Jason Ayto will take some warmth for his negotiating struggle in a bad first audition to take over Edu, the Brazilian shocking Arsenal by coming to his position in November.
Anyway, it is now on Arteta to solve. He is known for problem solving during his five-year term of office who is responsible for Arsenal, willing to adjust and change styles to meet his needs, and is also open to some outside-the-box to get through the sticky sticky places come.
Of the three remaining fit for his disposal, Trossard and Sterling have previously have Deputten if a false nine-what means that Arteta can stick to his usual 4-3-3.
Nwaneri could also be thrown into that role with three goals in all competitions in 2025, whereby Arteta rather suggests that it is a position that the young person could end up later in his career.
Arteta said in December: “There is a position that I think he can develop – NO9.
“He got the goal for him and he looks at the goal and he has a huge capacity to stop the ball in the back of the net.”
Arteta will have to rotate those three for the following month, at least after he has pushed Saka, Martinelli and now Havertz into limits that have seen their bodies crumbling.
Left back Kieran Tierney could, if necessary, be a left-wing introduction-de scot has already included this calendar year as a late replacement a few times.
There is 6ft2 – midfielder Mikel Merino with the help of his physique and form as an improvised central figure – a risk that even Arteta would have second thoughts.
And in the Academy, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji and Winger Ismeal Cabia would be the most likely options.
Butler-Oyedeji, 21, debut his first team debut as an extra replacement against Dinamo Zagreb last month, while the 19-year-old cabia made his debut against Bolton Wanderers in September.
Arsenal plays seven games before the international break of March, with three of those in midweek. Trossard, Nwaneri and Sterling have seven Prem objectives between them.
This will be a bumpy, painful ride for Arteta.
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