Arteta believes Arsenal must ‘improve in every area’ to reach Premier League ‘perfection’

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal must “improve in every area”, starting with the signing of Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori.

The Gunners are closing in on the signing of Calafiori from the Serie A club, who the player helped qualify for the Champions League for the first time last term.

The 22-year-old was extremely impressive in 2023/24 and also impressed at Euro 2024 with Italy.

Arsenal will reportedly pay around 50 million euros (£42million) for Calafiori, who could join his new team-mates in the United States.

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Arteta was asked about the Italian international during the Gunners’ pre-season tour of the States, saying there is no update but that he is looking to improve his squad.

“No unfortunately not but obviously we know there are certain positions that we want to improve and give the squad better resources in terms of numbers where we are short,” he said.

“We will try our best but the main thing is to focus on falling in love with the players we have and make them better.

“I don’t know [if anyone will join us in USA]. It’s still a lot of time to go in the window but that’s more of a question for Edu and the board I think.

“When you are so close you want to grab it. We are very close.”

Arteta did not discuss specific targets but says Arsenal must upgrade “in every area”.

“We have to,” he added.

“Perfection in this league requires different standards. To relate that word perfection to winning the Premier League then that’s what we have to do.

“We need to upgrade in everything we are doing. We have to improve in every area and that is what we are trying to do.”

Takehiro Tomiyasu did not travel to the USA after suffering an injury and will stay in north London to be treated.

The Japanese full-back has found it extremely difficult to stay fit since moving from Bologna to Arsenal in 2021.

“It is unbelievable because the kid works so hard and he had an incident in training.

“We don’t know yet the extent of that injury but for precaution we kept him there and we’ll see what happens. [It happened] this week.”

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