Mikel Arteta defends transfer policy but expects busy summer as Arsenal prepare spree

dailystar.co.uk:

Mikel Arteta has defended Arsenal's decision to let five players leave in January without being replaced.But the Gunners boss now expects a busy summer with at least one striker top of his agenda as he bids to rebuild a threadbare squad decimated by injuries while also battling for a place in the Premier League top four.Arsenal are short of bodies ahead of Saturday's clash with Brighton, with Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey now both in danger of missing the rest of the season.

But Arteta insists it was NOT a mistake to let Pablo Mari, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all leave.He said: "They were players that we did not really use.

And you put them in the context now, I don’t know how much they would have played. You don’t know, I don’t know."We made a decision on what we believed was the right thing to do for the team and for the individual players that were asking for the opportunity to play football because they didn’t have any minutes in several months."Arteta hopes big money will now be available in the summer not just to sign a top-quality striker but also to pad out a squad that could be playing Champions League football.Where will Arsenal finish this season?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section belowAsked if he's expecting a busy summer, the Gunners boss said: "I am expecting so, yes.