Arteta vows late transfer push as Arsenal chase reinforcements before 11pm deadline after gritty Villa win | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal will try to improve their squad right up until the transfer deadline this evening.

The summer transfer window shuts at 11pm this evening forPremier League clubs, who are racing to get deals done before the deadline.

Arsenal have made five senior signings so far this summer, adding Bruno Guimaraes, Illan Meslier, Christos Tzolis and Ezri Konsa to their title-winning squad. Piero Hincapie has also signed for the Gunners permanently after joining on an initial loan deal from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.

The North Londoners remain keen to add further options to their squad and have held talks with Lyon over winger Malick Fofana. The French side value the 21-year-old at around €40m. Arsenal have also monitored Julian Alvarez's ongoing situation at Atletico Madrid.

Speaking at hispress conference after the Premier League champions secured a hard-fought 1-0 win at Aston Villa, Arteta said Arsenal are actively trying to make signings in the final hours of the window.

"As I said, we’re trying to improve the squad - until tomorrow night we’re going to try to do that. I’ve been disconnected from the world for 24 hours because I think my energy probably has to be on the match, but I will get back on it now."

Asked if his side need more options, he added: "It depends if everybody’s fit or not. We can talk about today, but it might change. We knew that if we had an injury on the backline with Jurrien out, we'd be in big trouble - so we had to do Ezri. Today, Mosquera could not continue, so we know the depth has to be really big when we’re fighting for four competitions in the manner that we play as well - so we’re going to try to do that."