Arteta confirms Arsenal will sign a new central midfielder in January
Stefan Bienkowski
- 7 Jan 2022 08:46 CST
- 3 min read
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that the club will look to buy another central midfielder after Ainsley Maitland-Niles completes his move to Roma.
The young English talent is expected to complete a loan move to the Serie A side, with an option to make it permanent in the summer transfer window.
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Once Maitland-Niles departs the club, that will leave Arsenal with just four central midfielders of varying quality and experience.
As such, Arteta was happy to admit why Maitland-Niles now has to leave the club and the need to quickly buy another central defender in this transfer window.
Arteta on signing a new central midfielder:
"We are going to move and we are going to look for options because we are very short there." #AFC— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) January 7, 2022
“Ainsley came to me and explained the reasons why he thought the best thing for him in his career right now was to move away.
“He felt the opportunity to go to Rome and work with Jose [Mourinho] was a good one. Being fair with the amount of minutes that he’s played he was entitled to that opportunity. We wish him the best.”
Arteta added: “We are very, very short at the moment. But on a player this cannot be the only argument to keep a player.
“He was very straight with me and I understood the situation. We are going to move and we are going to look for options because we are very short there.”
Which midfielders could Arsenal sign in January?
In recent weeks Arsenal have been linked with Milan defensive midfielder Franck Kessie and Liverpool attacking midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Both players would certainly fill a hole in Arteta’s squad and provide ample cover for the departure of Maitland-Niles.
However, despite Kessie’s contract expiring at the end of the season, he would still cost a considerable amount of money in January. And Liverpool would be unlikely to sell their own midfield talent to a league rival for anything less than top value.
As such, it remains to be seen whether Arsenal have an ace up their sleeve or will be forced to spend big on a make-shift replacement.
