Arteta Declares Arsenal Ready to Strike in January as Injury Nightmare Sparks Transfer Hunt
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has indicated that the Premier League frontrunners are ready to adopt a "proactive" stance in the transfer market during their ongoing injury struggles to guarantee a "highly successful" January transfer period.
The North London club might have secured eight first-team signings during the summer for over £250 million ($337.2 million), but an unprecedented wave of injuries has severely challenged the squad's depth. From the beginning of last season, no Premier League team has experienced the relentless stream of fitness problems that Arsenal has endured.
Despite Gabriel Magalhães making a welcome return to the lineup, Arteta was still compelled to deploy Declan Rice as a right-back against Brighton & Hove Albion. Both Riccardo Calafiori and Jurriën Timber joined an already overcrowded treatment facility alongside Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White.
While the versatile midfielder performed admirably in the defensive role, the Arsenal manager is reluctant to rely on such makeshift solutions regularly.
"The transfer window exists. We're Arsenal. At this point, we must be examining it," he addressed the media this week.
"Right, what are our requirements? We need to be proactively searching. Whether we can execute it or not is another matter, but our responsibility is to remain well-prepared because situations can arise. So, ideally [it will be] highly successful."
The priority area is anticipated to be defensive reinforcements. Myles Lewis-Skelly remains the sole Arsenal defender who hasn't been sidelined by injury this season. Nevertheless, as Arteta emphasized, the medical staff ultimately determine the transfer budget this campaign.
Arsenal's Injury-Plagued Defense in 2025–26
Player | Types of Injury | Games Missed Through Injury (2025–26) |
|---|---|---|
Gabriel Magalhães (CB) | Hamstring | 10 |
Piero Hincapié (CB/LB) | Groin | 8 |
Ben White (RB/CB) | Knock, hamstring | 7* |
William Saliba (CB) | Ankle, knock | 6 |
Cristhian Mosquera (CB/RB) | Ankle | 6* |
Jurriën Timber (RB/CB) | Undisclosed | 1* |
Riccardo Calafiori (LB/CB) | Hip | 1* |
*Ongoing absence. Data via Transfermarkt. Correct as of Dec. 29, 2025.
Arsenal's January Transfer Activity Hinges on Medical Team Assessment
For Arteta, Arsenal's transfer movements must be contingent on the recovery timelines of players currently residing in the club's treatment facility. Without providing specific updates, the Spanish manager explained: "We're going to remain highly conscious of the circumstances and recovery schedules of particular players, spanning from attack to defense."
Should players like White, Timber, Calafiori and Mosquera achieve rapid recoveries, there would be minimal justification for acquiring another defender when the squad already possesses eight first-team defensive options.
"That represents the squad depth required," Arteta elaborated. "When examining other clubs similarly, they maintain 24, 25 squad members, so our roster isn't exceptional
"The issue is we're experiencing more injuries than anticipated, some unavoidable, I believe. However, we aim to improve and understand how crucial having proper player availability will be throughout the season."