Mikel Arteta hints at 'big summer' for Arsenal, with Andrea Berta leading recruitment efforts

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has expressed excitement for a “big summer” ahead, as the club prepares to make key improvements to their squad, with Andrea Berta set to take charge as the new sporting director. The Italian was officially announced as the Gunners’ new sporting director on Sunday, replacing Edu, who left the role in November.

Despite their efforts this season, Arsenal's hopes of clinching the Premier League title appear to be slipping away, with Liverpool positioned to finish as champions. This puts increased pressure on the club's hierarchy to ensure that their summer recruitment is spot on, with an elite striker topping their list of priorities.

“We want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step. It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it,” Arteta said in his pre-Fulham press conference on Monday.

The Arsenal boss further explained that their long-term planning has always included large summer windows, each with different objectives. The club's strategy is to evolve gradually and steadily.

“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different,” Arteta noted. “But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step. It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.”

Arteta was asked whether the club plans its summer windows several years in advance, to which he confirmed that they had mapped out expectations for the future. "In the beginning there were a lot of players with three-, four- or five-year contracts, so the turnaround of the squad and how you visualise the next three, four, five years are very dependent on what is going to happen here,” he said.

Despite the challenges of maintaining a competitive squad, Arteta is confident that the club is heading in the right direction. “The last five [summers] were big [windows]. Every summer is big because it is an opportunity. But it’s a big summer for many things because, first of all, we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then, obviously, how can we improve and evolve the team?”

Regarding the summer recruitment process, Arteta expressed his confidence in Berta's appointment and his ability to enhance the team's prospects. “What I’m very confident about is how he’s going to make everybody better,” Arteta said of Berta. “That’s my confidence, because of the way he is, the personality he has, how passionate he is and what he does — that’s what we need."

Arteta believes Berta's passion and ambition will help inject new energy into the club's recruitment strategy. "We need new blood with people that are so ambitious that they are so attached to the football club and what we already do but want to add value,” he added.

With Berta now in place, Arsenal’s summer window promises to be a defining one as the Gunners look to strengthen their squad and continue their pursuit of Premier League success in the coming years.