Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has promised to be proactive in next month’s transfer window as the club look to find a replacement for Gabriel Jesus.
Jesus picked up a knee injury during Brazil’s group game against Cameroon at the World Cup, and is expected to be sidelined for around three months.
His injury setback is a big blow for Arsenal, after he netted five goals in the first part of the season to put his team five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
While Arteta refused to be drawn on exactly how long he would be without Jesus for, he admitted that the Gunners will need to bring in a suitable alternative to keep their title challenge alive.
‘I never gave a date,’ Arteta said at a press conference on Thursday when asked to confirm the length of Jesus’ lay-off.
‘It’s going to take some time, for sure. He’s going through surgery so that tells you the extent of the injury. And we’ll be in the market, always active.
‘We are going to be active, and active means that we are always looking to strengthen the team. This squad still doesn’t have the luxury of not maximising every single window, and we have to do that.
‘I think it is really important, but then we have to get the right profile, the right player and a player that is really going to impact the team and take us to the next level.’
As well as bringing players in, January could also be a month where some first-team stars leave the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal allowed the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Calum Chambers and Ainsley-Maitland Niles to depart last January, leaving Arteta with a thin squad that struggled to cope in the final weeks of the season as the side narrowly missed out on a top-four finish.
Cedric Soares has been linked with a January switch to Fulham, but Arteta has insisted that he plans to be ‘extremely cautious’ with letting players go this time around as he looks to avoid past mistakes.
‘We know where we are in terms of the squad and the numbers that we have so we’re going to be extremely cautious about what we do in this window,’ he said.