Mikel Arteta is happy with Arsenal’s “phenomenal” transfer window despite the Premier League leaders’ failure to seal a deal for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz on deadline day.
Arsenal reportedly made a £25 million ($28 million) bid for Luiz before the window closed on Thursday.
But Villa rejected the approach, leaving the Gunners unable to add to Arteta’s squad after being hit with a sudden rash of injuries.
“We had a lot of things still to do in the squad. You see the amount of departures compared to the recruitment and again the club has done a phenomenal job and put everything on the table to try to bring in the players and profile that we wanted,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“We did the business pretty early, but unfortunately in the last 72 hours Thomas (Partey) got injured in the same place as last time and then Mo (Mohamed Elneny) has a long-term injury and we had to react in the market.
“We tried and at the end of the day we have to bring in the players we feel are right for the team and the club, but we didn’t manage to do that.”
Arsenal signed Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City at the start of the window, as well as Marquinhos from Sao Paulo, Fabio Vieira from Porto and MLS-based keeper Matt Turner.
Those acquisitions have helped Arsenal take top spot as they travel to Manchester United on Sunday in a bid to improve on their perfect start to the season.
The Gunners have won all five of their matches, but Arteta conceded he had been keen to further bolster his options.
“We pushed to strengthen the team and bring the best possible people and players into the football club,” he said.
“We have managed that to a certain level, but then we have our limitations.
“Time was a big limitation with what happened in the last 72 hours in our midfield. We tried to act but we didn’t find the right player.”
