RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesBruno? Vinicius Junior? ‘We are on that level’ says Arsenal star
Riccardo Calafiori believes Arsenal’s pursuit of the world’s best players underlines the club’s status among Europe’s elite as speculation continues to grow over the imminent arrival of Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
The Gunners are closing in on a deal for the Brazil international and have also been linked with a sensational move for Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, although manager Mikel Arteta refused to be drawn on either player following his side’s 3-1 pre-season defeat by Real Betis in Dublin.
Calafiori, however, admitted Arsenal’s growing pulling power reflects how far the Premier League champions have come.
“It’s not official, so I cannot speak about him (Bruno),” said the Italy defender.
Asked if actively trying to sign players such as Guimaraes and Vini Jnr were taking Arsenal to another level, he added:
“We are on that level now. We are on top. We want to win the league again and we want to be even better than last season if we can. We need these kind of players, I think.”
The 24-year-old insisted transfer speculation does not distract the current squad, who have two more friendlies ahead of the Community Shield before they start their title defence at home to Coventry.
“We are just focused on ourselves and our bodies to be fit,” he added. “We are still waiting for the players who were at the World Cup. I hope they are going to be in form and ready to help us.
“It is going to be a tricky start to the season because of that, but other big teams are going to have the same problem.”
Asked directly about Guimaraes after the defeat in Dublin, Arteta shut down any discussion of Arsenal’s transfer plans.
“I’m not going to talk about any players who aren’t Arsenal players,” he said.
“When something happens and we can announce it, I will give you my straight answer.”
The Arsenal manager instead focused on the work still to be done before the new campaign begins, with several senior internationals yet to return.
“We know half of the squad is still not with us,” he said. “We had four players joining three days ago, so we know the context.
“We have to maximise every day we have with them. We have put a lot of work into them over the last 10 days. Now we go back to London and have two games at home before the Community Shield, so we will be ready.”
He did, however, confirm the departure of Christian Norgaard to Everton and said: “Well, he played a tremendous role for us. When I brought him here I said that he could be our group player. An incredible capacity to bring people together, to keep the standards high. When he played he had some really good moments as well. But I understand that to fulfil that role for a long period is not easy. He had a massive opportunity with a manager and a club that I know really well. We wish him all the best.”
Despite insisting the result itself was not the priority, Arteta admitted he was frustrated by Arsenal’s first defeat of pre-season.
“The important thing is to win and we didn’t manage to win it, so I’m disappointed,” he said. “It’s true we used 25 players, so you have to give a bit of context to the game.
“There were some fantastic moments in the first half with the starters, but around our own box we competed below the standards we are used to. There are things to improve.
“Sometimes a bad result is good because it creates even more fire in the belly.”
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