Mikel Arteta’s ‘very active’ admission amid Arsenal transfer ‘approach’

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted the Gunners are ‘really active’ in the transfer market as he looks to further build on a positive summer at the club.

The Spaniard has already added five new faces to his squad after an outlay of over £118million saw Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos all arrive at the Emirates Stadium.

There have been five departures after left-back Nuno Tavares became the second Gunner to join Marseille when his loan switch saw him reunite with Matteo Guendouzi in the South of France.

German goalkeeper Bernd Leno sealed a move to Premier League newcomers Fulham, Konstantinos Mavropanos has joined Stuttgart in a £2.9million and captain Alexandre Lacazette completed a free transfer switch to former club Lyon.

Further movement is expected over the coming weeks and Arteta believes ‘everything is open’ in the transfer market as the window enters its final month.

Speaking ahead of Friday night’s Premier League opener at Crystal Palace, the Gunners boss said: “We are really active as you can see with incomings and outgoings. Everything is still open, it’s a long window, a lot has happened.

“It’s incredible how much business the clubs have done across the Premier League and it shows how competitive it is and this season is not going to stop that.

“Players are going to have the need to leave, some others to move and everything is open still. It’s always been my team, because these are our players and always we have had the intention to get the best out of them.

“It’s true that obviously we have trimmed the squad and changed the squad massively in the last two windows especially, and you feel that now the players we have are more specific and better for the way we want to play basically.”

AC Milan star Ismael Bennacer is the latest player to be linked with a move to Arsenal as reports in Italy suggested the Gunners are one of three Premier League clubs to make an ‘approach’ for the midfielder.

Liverpool and Manchester City are also said to be keen on the Algerian international, who is believed to have a £50million release clause in his current contract at the San Siro.