I’d imagine “integrating them into the squad” means you shouldn’t expect the pair to start immediately after the worldwide break, but hey, who knows?
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that the Gunners are close to completing deals in the transfer window in order to bolster the squad for the 2016/17 season.
The Gunners are dipping into the transfer market for reinforcements with centre-back Mustafi due to arrive from Valencia for €41m, while hitman Perez is to arrive from Deportivo La Coruna for €20m.
FC’s Steve Nicol explains how Arsenal should utilize midfielder Alexis Sanchez moving forward.
“No, it is the case that everybody is waiting to get the deals done”.
If the deals are completed as expected, Wenger should be able to call on both players after the worldwide break.
Perez scored 17 league goals last season and added eight assists but was still relatively unknown to many fans in England before Arsenal’s interest emerged on Thursday.
Rather than the general idea of him dithering, however, our manager suggested that he had a very clear idea of what he wanted and it seems like he may have finally got it as he was quick to accept the comparison between Vardy and Lucas Perez.
“The moment we go ahead, we should continue to play well but we got complacent”.
While Wenger didn’t disclose which deals “didn’t come off”, he was reportedly hoping to strike an agreement with Real Madrid over forward Alvaro Morata and also made a bid for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette. “But my job is to make the right decisions for the club”.
“He’s a late developer because he played in a different position [on the right-hand side of attack]”.
And on Mustafi, he said, “I think he’s a good signing but time will tell”. At the moment we are not completely there physically and could see that in second half.
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Mattias is ESPN FC’s Arsenal correspondent.
