Mikel Arteta Expecting Andrea Berta To “Tweak” Previous Summer Plans

Arteta excited to have Berta on board…

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has welcomed the arrival of sporting director Andrea Berta and expects the Italian to put his own stamp on the club’s summer plans.

Speaking ahead of the resumption of our Premier League campaign as we host Fulham on Tuesday, much of Arteta’s pre-match press conference was dominated by Sunday’s announcement.

Berta came through a thorough recruitment process as the club looked for Edu’s replacement since his resignation in November , and the former Atletico Madrid chief certainly has the resume befitting of the role.

Arteta has always maintained that recruitment is a collaborative effort between many individuals and while a lot of the groundwork has been done for the summer window, the Spaniard is encouraging change.

“What I like the most immediately is how much he wanted to come to the club,” Arteta said when asked about Berta’s appointment.

“He was really attracted and really excited about that possibility, and then the way he believes that he can help us to achieve what we want.

“That’s what I mentioned, that the good thing is the strong team that we already have in place, and all the work that the recruitment, that Jason, James, and all the boys have been doing, and everything is prepared,” the boss added when discussing the upcoming window.

“Then that planning has to be tweaked, because what you plan and you execute most of the time ends up being a bit different but the direction, the vision, and what we want to do is clear. He will jump on board with that, and hopefully he will twist it and make it better. That’s why he’s here.”

We may have already seen the first sign of Berta’s influence after The Athletic reported that the club is developing a strong interest in Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres.

The Swedish international’s name has been constantly mentioned given his impressive goal-scoring prowess, but there have never been any serious reports mentioning any interest on our behalf.

David Ornstein now reveals that Berta is a keen admirer of the 26-year-old and if we’re tasking any sporting director to solve our striker crisis, I would bet on the new recruit.

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