Arteta hopeful about his reformed squad: 'We have to be sustainable'

Despite the Gunners' recent problems, Arsenal manager

Mikel Arteta

is unfazed by criticisms of his transfer strategy at Emirates Stadium and believes he is creating a successful squad. 

Following the additions of

Ben White

,

Nuno Tavares

,

Albert Sambi Lokonga

, and

Martin Odegaard

in the ongoing window,

Aaron Ramsdale

became the fifth player under the age of 23 to join the senior team on Friday.

Arteta is also in desperate need of quick success, as his side's defeat to Brentford last week added to the strain after a dismal 2020-21 season. 

"We have to be sustainable," Arteta explained to Sky Sports. "We have to perform now and we also need a plan for the medium and the long term.

"A lot of the decisions we have made over the last 18 months are because we had a big imbalance in certain areas that was putting the club in a difficult position.

"Then, we wanted to recruit talent, specificity, and players with a big capacity to interact with the players who already exist here and who could develop into potential starters and increase the level of the team and the squad."

"I've been in constant contact with the hierarchy of the club, with Eddy [Edu], with Richard [Garlick] and with our coaching team, trying to find the players we want to recruit and trying to be on top of every deal to make it happen in conditions we can afford.

"I think we have created a really strong team who really enjoy working together. Hopefully you will see the fruits of this."

Arteta will be under pressure to show that his rebuilding efforts are accompanied by evidence of positive short-term development after missing out on Europe entirely last time around, finishing a dismal ninth in the

. 

On Sunday, the Gunners face European champions Chelsea, and a loss would leave them anchored at the foot of the standings with zero points after two fixtures.

"We have had seven departures from the side that we had last year, maybe eight," Arteta added. "With five coming in, we are talking already about a turnaround of 13 players, so it's huge.

"We are just trying to have the best quality and balance that we possibly can. It's about increasing the quality and having a healthy squad, which is really important as well."

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