Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta previews the last game of the season and summer transfers
22/05/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
22/05/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00I'm going a little bit of maybe two news and if you could just explain the timid of Saliba situation and what player problem is and whether he might have him back available for pre-season or beyond?
00:12Jury and he had a surgery on Tuesday morning and on his ankle. He's been feeling that discomfort for many, many weeks. He's been navigating through the season with that issue and it needed to be resolved so he's going to be out for a while.
00:27And Saliba, he felt something in his hamstring in the first half just before half-time and again, he's going to be out for a few weeks.
00:35In terms of Jury, what's the sort of timeframe on that? Will he have pre-season and not wait for the start of the season?
00:43We don't know yet. It will depend how the recovery goes. It will be weeks but we don't know exactly how much.
00:50Hopefully it will be somewhere near the pre-season if everything goes well but we don't know yet.
00:55And Saliba, just a few weeks rest.
00:58A few weeks, yeah.
01:00And Kai, he came back. Have you come here okay?
01:03Very good.
01:03Was he the only man this week?
01:05You could tell how excited he was. He's been working so hard. I think he's done great with the medical stuff to get back in the shape and in the form that he is at the moment.
01:13He was desperate to contribute and I'm really happy to see him back.
01:16And Sunday probably marks the end for a number of the players at this club.
01:24Is there any sort of, there's an understanding some are going to go but in party there still remains a little bit for the question mark over.
01:33Is there any movement on that yet?
01:34And in terms of the level he's played at this year, how important is he to make a kick?
01:40Well, there's some question marks on a few of them. So we'll have to wait and see. We still have another Premier League match to play on Sunday and after that we have some time to sit down and finalise a few things that have to be done.
01:54In regards to Thomas, I think consistency-wise he's been his best season. I think the way his play performed, his availability, he's been exceptional and he's a really important player for us.
02:06In terms of another important player for you, David Raya, he's got his goal and he's got his goal and he's got his goal and he came at sales and him head-to-head.
02:16So much noise when you signed him. Do you sit back in your armchair and be a peace and quiet at night and think, gosh, that was one of the best decisions I made?
02:31Well, we made decisions with that intention, but obviously at the time it was a very,
02:36unpopular one, it was so much pressure on it not to get it done, but I think we have to feel our gut and we have to be as well very analytical of what we think is necessary to improve the team, to take the team to a different level.
02:54And certainly everybody, I think, at the club, around the team, our supporters are very happy with the way David has been consistently performing at the highest level for us in the last few seasons.
03:05From the second three years in a row, when you are lying on a sunbed somewhere next week, hopefully with your phone, you're spending some quality time to be present with your children.
03:16When you get back, how much clarity do you have in your mind about what you need to do next season?
03:25What's that kind of risk look like?
03:27So I can imagine the moment that you just described, so probably what I would do when I'm dead, I pick up the phone, I call you and I tell you exactly how I feel, because now exactly is not the best moment to do it and I don't feel in a way to do it.
03:42I have quite a clear picture, but I need a few more things to then have a real clarity and analysis and describe the season with the right words, because I know that that's going to be very, very important.
03:57But the picture you have in your mind of what next season looks like, assuming with the trophy in your hands, you know, that alignment, the players, where you go with this squad is very clear in your mind.
04:10What's the most important thing about getting that right next season?
04:14Alignment.
04:15The people that, you know.
04:17Everybody at the end.
04:18We all feel the same way, that we feel that we are capable.
04:21It's not just a dream or it's not just something you want to do it.
04:24It's do we have everything that is needed to do that.
04:26And even if you do, there is a lot of things that are going to play a part to win.
04:31A lot of things.
04:32Performance is going to be the squad quality.
04:34Availability is going to be referees.
04:37The schedule.
04:38Who do you play?
04:39When?
04:39In what kind of form they are?
04:40How many days do you have to recover?
04:42And then the randomness of football.
04:45That one I cannot control.
04:47I cannot control what can happen in that dressing room to somebody in his personal life that can affect his performance.
04:52Or that something happens.
04:54Or our competitors do something like in the history of this league.
04:58You have seen it sometime.
04:59Boom.
04:59They do that.
05:00And then there is a lot of randomness there.
05:03So things that we can control, I guarantee we will do our very best.
05:06And just one thing for me, no training for you this season, but obviously your rivals managed to do it last night.
05:14How much extra pressure does that make you add to you?
05:18And a word on maybe Ange Poster-Coffee, because you probably know better than us.
05:23The sort of roller coaster that he's been on this season.
05:27And you sort of see him at the end of his family.
05:28I mean, I think you have to kind of tell you how to pretend he's won.
05:34Just congratulate them.
05:35I think they are champions.
05:37And when you get to that, you have to do a lot of things right.
05:39I think they've gone through a season with, again, a lot of obstacles and difficulties.
05:45And they have had them at the end to manage a beautiful moment.
05:49So you have to congratulate.
05:50This is a sport.
05:51And I'm sure they've done everything in their hands to achieve it.
05:54And they are really happy.
05:56The question I have been asked to ask is who's had a better season?
05:59Sorry?
06:00The question I've been asked to ask is who's had a better season?
06:04You finished in second.
06:05I don't like to compare with other teams.
06:07I need to analyse my team.
06:08That's my job.
06:10Okay, thanks.
06:10We'll go to Alice from the Premier League.
06:12Hi, Mikel.
06:13So a trip to Southampton into a season on Sunday.
06:16Then given second place is pretty much confirmed for you.
06:18What is the motivation for this one?
06:20Sorry, what is that?
06:21What is the motivation for this one?
06:23Well, it's motivation because you want to have as many points as possible.
06:27You're always here representing this club to win and to play in the manner that we want
06:32to do.
06:33We still want to achieve the best defensive record, the Golden Glove that we're still
06:38there to play and finish the season again on a high with a good test and always respecting
06:44the competition.
06:45You recently said that you're willing to give your life to win silverware here at Arsenal.
06:50With that in mind, how do you switch off and let yourself rest and recuperate once the
06:55season's over to be able to go again with such intensity next time around?
06:59Well, it's a bit of, I think it's, you need to reset again.
07:04I think in order to do that, there are many parts.
07:07One of them is that obviously you have to rest and then you need to be very convinced and
07:14aligned of what you want to do to give yourself, again, the best chance to be what we want to
07:20be and then you need to start to feel that, again, that feeling in your tummy that you
07:26are willing to come back here on day one fully motivated, fully enthusiastic to go again
07:32with a group of players and staff that we have.
07:34With that in mind, how excited are you already at the prospect of next season?
07:39I am excited, but I think now I need as well to rest a little bit, to calm down, I think
07:45to have, and to start to make certain decisions in the most efficient way with the right timing
07:53as well to make sure that I can rest because that's a big part of the rest when you start
07:58to see, OK, things are happening and are happening in the right timing, in the right direction.
08:02So you're looking at that, you go into this summer transfer window with a new sporting director
08:07in Andrea Berta, how well have you two got to know each other and how much of an impact
08:11do you feel that you can make in what could be a very big summer for the club?
08:15Yeah, I think he's going to be a big contributor, his experience, the fact that he's already
08:21won and won in very difficult contexts as well, the way he's built in I think is exceptional.
08:26So, yeah, I think we have to share all that responsibility, Andrea is going to be a key
08:31part driving the idea and the plans that we have to try to execute him and we are here
08:37to support him.
08:38Finally for me, your last pre-match press conference of the season, if you had to summarise your season
08:42in one word, what would that be and why?
08:44When he finishes, and I knew that question was coming, when he finishes, I would do that
08:52and I would use, if I count one, if not, I might use three, OK?
08:58Mikel, in the last 24 hours or so, you've been linked with Rodrigo, Rodrigo, I'm not asking
09:03you to talk about a specific name of him, but what does it say about where this team is
09:08at, where the project is at, that you're linked with a player of that calibre?
09:13Well, I wouldn't like to name a player, but obviously we've come.
09:22So I think the biggest thing is that, and using the word pride, is that we have brought
09:30the club into a position, into a place that next season you have to win a major trophy.
09:38That means that everybody believes that we have the level, that we have shown the consistency,
09:44and we are an elite team in this country and in Europe, and if you don't do that, then
09:49what's going to happen?
09:50So, for me that's the biggest statement, that Arsenal is there.
09:55Should you be in a conversation when a player like that is on the market?
10:01I mean, if you want to win major trophies, you have to be the best in the market, no?
10:04Because you need, the teams that win have the best players always, always, at this level.
10:11Michael, you weren't joking when you said that Kai Havertz had bulked up when he came
10:17on the other day, I think you could see clearly that he's building…
10:21You saw the difference, yeah?
10:23You could see it from the stands. On the centre-forward thing, there's been a lot of talk about Arsenal
10:28moving potentially for a centre-forward in the summer. Does Kai Havertz coming back and
10:32coming back in such good shape, does that alter your thinking at all going into the summer,
10:35or are you very keen on what needs to happen or doesn't need to happen in that position?
10:41Well, what we have, what is clear as well with the amount of injuries that we had in the
10:45front line, that we need to go threat. We need the firepower out there, understanding that the
10:51context can change tomorrow, you know, and we cannot rely just on the numbers that we had before.
10:58And we have to add goal, we have to add creativity, we have to add numbers, and that will be in
11:04different positions.
11:06Tom?
11:07Tom?
11:08Tom?
11:09I was trying to tell you something you talked about with Simon, you talked about the
11:12raising of the expectations. You said to me before that success and failure are two words
11:17that you use in your vocabulary. Do you feel that football has gone into quite a binary
11:21way where we look at things as trophy success, a season without trophy failure? Is that a worry?
11:27A worry? Well, externally, yes. I mean, you're going to only evaluate that,
11:31then use those two words and that's it. But then, I think, make decisions in base to that
11:36so next season you don't do that, you are out. If you do that, you are here forever. I don't
11:40know what is it because last night is a really good example of that. Or the final between
11:45Inter and PSG because they're going to be judged only if they win it. If not, they're going
11:50again like the last 12 years that they have tried it. I have a very different view on that.
11:56How do you cope with that mentally in terms of, for you as a manager, managing players,
12:01how they deal with a season where it's not necessarily achieved what you wanted but you can
12:05see the progression that's been made by those players?
12:07But where is the joy then? Because then if I have to analyse ourselves,
12:10Arsenal and football clubs, we have failed the last 20 years in the Premier League and
12:15we have failed in all our history in Champions League. If you take it there, who are we then?
12:24What is our brand? What is our club? What is that we stand for? What is our value? What
12:29is our way of playing? What are the moments that we live together with our people? If we're
12:34just going to evaluate that, we have to do a summary, what is it, 20 years of that and a full
12:39history of our club of that in Europe? I wouldn't go that way.
12:43Last two in the as live section, we'll go to Nick Callow in the back there.
12:48Talking about finals and trophies, the women have got big finalists,
12:53what are your thoughts and how will you be watching?
12:55I will be watching, I will be wishing and I think everybody is just full on board,
13:00just bringing that energy to them. It's going to be an incredible moment for the club,
13:05for them, so I wish them all the very best and we will be watching.
13:09Does their success bring energy throughout the club through to your team as well?
13:13For sure. The women, what we do in the academy, at any level, anything that is very positive
13:19for the football club, we are more than happy to do that.
13:22Phil from Pierre.
13:24Just going back to Thomas, you said earlier it's been his best season.
13:29Just taking everything away, would you like him to stay beyond this season?
13:34Yeah, I said it many times, yeah.
13:37And in terms of numbers you said you want to add to the squad,
13:40do you have a number in mind to how many more you need?
13:44No.
13:48Can you say that?
13:49No.
13:51Thanks, Phil.