Arteta breaks silence on Raheem Sterling capture and explains how Arsenal have improved with transfers

Mikel Arteta has hailed the arrival of Raheem Sterling at Arsenal as a ‘step up’ for the club and explained why he believes their transfer business this summer has improved their quality and quantity.

Sterling became Arsenal’s last signing of the summer when a deal to take him on loan from Chelsea for the rest of the season went through in time before the deadline. The winger reunites with Arteta after they previously crossed paths at Manchester City, when Arsenal’s current manager was the assistant to Pep Guardiola.

Amid the risk of being frozen out entirely by Chelsea, Sterling seized his chance and will spend the current season at the Emirates Stadium. His career pathway of playing for Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal is enviable.

While he only scored 19 goals from 81 games for Chelsea and lost his England place in the meantime, Sterling is still only 29 years old and Arsenal will be hoping to prove he is not a lost cause.

It will be up to Arteta to find Arsenal’s best balance on the wings between Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, but however big a role the new boy takes, his new manager is confident he will elevate their levels.

“We are really happy with what we’ve done,” Arteta told TNT Sports.

“We all know the qualities. It’s a bigger step up for us. We have brought a top talent and a player with a lot of experience that hopefully is going to impact the team in a big way.”

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It was pointed out to Arteta that some of Sterling’s best seasons in terms of output came while he was on the Man City coaching staff.

In response, the Arsenal manager outlined his vision for Sterling to be surrounded by players of a similar level who can create chances for each other.

“Obviously he’s got these numbers because he was playing under a great manager with great players around him that generate so much for him,” Arteta responded.

“If you do that, he’s going to score the goals and create so many issues to the opponent, that’s what we have to do as a team.”

Arteta rates overall Arsenal transfer window

Sterling was one of two signings on deadline day for Arsenal, the other being Neto, who arrived on loan from Bournemouth to replace departing goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Earlier in the week, Arsenal completed the addition of Mikel Merino to strengthen their midfield, and further back in the summer, they signed Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori.

Only time will tell which of Arsenal’s new recruits will become regular starters and which will be rotation players.

Either way, Arteta has reflected on how Arsenal didn’t just increase their numbers, but the type of different players at their disposal.

“Really happy,” he responded when asked about how the transfer window went for Arsenal. “We identified a few areas and a few positions that we could improve the team, in many ways – not only in terms of numbers, but the qualities that we were missing as well and I think we should be happy.”

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