00:00The transfer window, it feels like a phenomenal window, it feels like it's giving you a potential, just how important and how pleased you are, you've always been backed, but you know, the backing in this window feels quite phenomenal.
00:16Yeah, that word backed, I don't know, we try to do everything in every department to have the best possible resources, the best people, and to be as competitive as we can, and that's what we try to do when it comes to the transfer market.
00:28And I think instead of backing me, it shows the ambition of the club, the ambition of ownership, the ambition of the board, the manager, the players, we all want more, and if we want more we have to be better, we have to make smarter decisions, we have to demand each other constantly more, and that's what we are trying to do in every decision we have to make.
00:48Would you expect, you know, because you've got big competition in particular areas, maybe people knocking on your door, and how would you feel about that?
00:56Could you foresee, you know, maybe two or three exits before the end?
01:00Well, we don't know, when you shake the tree and when you bring more players, there are always things that can happen.
01:07I think the spirit of that is just to be more competitive, to be better, to learn from the past.
01:12I mean, with the squad that we had last year, we made life very, very difficult to ourselves when you see the squad and the sizes of the other clubs and the resources that they have, at least that or more.
01:25So we want to be in a place that we feel very comfortable, that we have the right level of competition in the team, but as well the right characters to cooperate and understand their roles and how those roles are going to change and how important it's going to be to accept those roles.
01:39I think we are in a really good place.
01:41Just one on Victor, did you see, first of all, what you see last Sunday?
01:46He's only, I think, up until that point, trained two weeks, isn't he?
01:49Yeah.
01:50What more can you expect?
01:52Have you seen this week him kind of stepping up a level?
01:55To me, he looks a really strong powerhouse, you know, for English football.
02:00How do you see it?
02:01I mean, you know, have you been further impressed in what you've seen in these early weeks than you even thought so?
02:08I've seen, as you said, it's been a really short period because on that I think we have to manage a lot of training sessions within that.
02:13But I think we are going to be extremely happy when he starts to put the ball in the back of the net very, very often, which is his biggest ability.
02:20So the team, myself, we have a big responsibility to help him understand how we're going to do that to be more efficient.
02:27And that's it.
02:28It was the first game, really demanding game.
02:30We take it from there.
02:32Can I just double check on Kyle?
02:34Was it a tackle?
02:35Was he running?
02:36How was that?
02:37No, it wasn't a tackle.
02:38It was just a reaction.
02:39Not a tackle.
02:40It was a low reaction, yeah.
02:41In terms of, in the past, when you looked around at your squad, you might think, oh, we need some depth here, we need some depth there.
02:48When you look around at the squad now, is it the most complete squad you've had since you've been here?
02:56In terms of numbers and quality, yes, for sure.
02:59And then with that, are you concerned that it could get bloated?
03:03And do you need to do some work in terms of numbers?
03:06Bloated?
03:07Sorry?
03:08What does that mean?
03:09Too big.
03:10Too big?
03:11I don't know why we are too big.
03:12I don't know what the rest they have.
03:13They have 27, 29, 32 players in the squad.
03:16No.
03:17I think we have a really good balance of players, the versatility of the players, the understanding
03:22of roles of those players, the mixture between the experience, youth, ambition.
03:29I think I'm very happy with what we have.
03:31And we are protected from what can happen as well, which I think is important.
03:35Sorry, just one more.
03:36You conceded 19 fouls against United at the weekend.
03:41You haven't conceded that many in over 15 months.
03:44Was it just that game?
03:46Or is it something in your team that you put in to try and break up playing more to be
03:51more aggressive?
03:52No.
03:53It wasn't part of the plan.
03:54I think it developed.
03:55It was a lot of man-to-man situation when that happens.
03:57Normally that and results of play happen very, very often.
04:01And yeah, we have to defend Beze without fouls.
04:04That's for sure.
04:05That will be the encouragement and the teaching from my side.
04:08Yes, sir.
04:09Hi, Michael.
04:10With the respect to Raul Beze in this window, Lante spent over two years
04:14in terms of a lot of us sitting in the front line.
04:17In terms of your front line, do you look at that and think, wow, compared to last season?
04:21Because if you look at the front line season, now it does seem a totally different equation.
04:26Well, it is different because before you asked me questions and you said,
04:29I think you are the 60th club in Europe in terms of what you spend in the front line.
04:34So we spend in the back line.
04:36So now we spend, if we do, in the front line.
04:39So we need to find the balance, the evolution of the team, the needs, the possibilities as well.
04:44Because obviously when you're evolving the team, it's just not what you want to do.
04:48It's the resources that you already have and the time of that.
04:51Very pleased with what we are doing.
04:53So you've spent the money.
04:54The other aspect is obviously getting...
04:56Invest, invest.
04:57Invest, OK.
04:58The other aspect is getting players out the door.
05:01Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, they seem to be really good at getting good money for players
05:05that are surplus their requirements.
05:07How important is that together inside Arsenal?
05:10Do you look at the club and think, I wish we could get more money from that?
05:14Yeah, I think you have to understand the context of those clubs,
05:17where they have been in the last ten years,
05:19sets and resources that they have, how they operate.
05:22But if you will, to compare those contexts, those clubs that you mentioned with ours.
05:27And in terms of Victor going forward, how do you envisage him,
05:30well, get him involved a bit more, because obviously with the defence,
05:32it's so low back and the rest of it.
05:34How do you envisage trying to bring that forward?
05:37That's going to happen naturally.
05:39I'm very happy with him.
05:40I think we need to make an effort as well to try to understand him,
05:43to connect.
05:44We've done a lot of work this week in relation to that as well.
05:47He's very smart, very intuitive player as well.
05:50So I'm sure he's going to be fine.
05:53OK, last two.
05:54Just into the season, when they asked you about the spending,
05:57you compared it to a wedding, and you said sometimes you go to a wedding
06:00and you spend more than you think.
06:02Did you come to this summer and actually expect to spend this amount of money?
06:05Some of the things that I say, why do I say that?
06:08Did you expect to spend it?
06:09I can always blame my wife, though.
06:11She has spent it.
06:12In this case as well.
06:13You have to blame Kate.
06:15Did you expect to spend this amount of money or were there just opportunities
06:22and therefore you could go to the club and say, actually this is something
06:25we weren't going to find, can we spend some more?
06:29Well, there are a lot of situations in relation to that.
06:31We've lost players with end of contracts as well.
06:34We lost two players by injury, Tomoyasu, what happened.
06:38And then as well with Gaby Jesus, obviously.
06:41So there are a lot of factors that are contributing to that.
06:44But make sure that we're investing, we're investing in the right profile,
06:48the right characters and especially the right players that can give us an age
06:52and improve us and I'm very certain that we've done that.
06:55The one you're about to bring in is very different from the players you signed before
06:59because he's like a maverick and says he could do anything.
07:02He's very off the cup.
07:04This is almost the first off the cup player you've actually bought.
07:07Is this going to be a very different player to work with?
07:11He might be four out of ten one week, he might be nine out of ten,
07:15and also he might play a pass that's brilliant.
07:18Is this going to be completely different?
07:20Is this also going to be very unpredictable this year?
07:22There's a lot of things there.
07:25Go back to the first question.
07:27I think I cannot talk about a player that is not with us.
07:30If one day that happens, I will be more than happy to respond to that incredible question.
07:35We'll have to remember it then.
07:40Okay, I will try.
07:42You mentioned making things difficult for yourself last season.
07:46Is this a manager spending the benchmark for a club that wants to win?
07:50I mean, Liverpool have won and they've had loads.
07:52Is this every season Arsenal have got to do this now?
07:56No, it's not there.
07:57As well, I think it's very difficult to compare what those clubs have done six years ago,
08:01ten years ago because the market has changed.
08:03There's a lot of factors there to consider as well for us.
08:07I think we have to understand the value of the players that we are recruiting.
08:10Are we investing in the right profiles as well in a sustainable way?
08:14I think we do.
08:15We are very thorough.
08:16We have ownership with incredible experience and so smart to guide us, help us and support us in that sense.
08:22And the same with the board and Andrea.
08:25And at the end it comes down to what the players can fit in the way we want to play
08:30and the way I feel about players.
08:32And we believe that we've done the right thing.
08:35Did you have to persuade to spend so much?
08:37It sounds as though everybody was in board but having to go this summer?
08:42No, there are things that are more planned than others, obviously.
08:45And as long as there is great communication and you can be sensible and explain things
08:51and try to understand as well the total context of the club and how it's operated, we are good.
08:57And I think we are all with the biggest smile on our faces understanding that we've done really well.
09:02The market is not closed and we have to stay very alert because there's a lot of things that can happen still.
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