Jamie Carragher has once again question an Arsenal transfer call, while Mikel Arteta has revealed what he is trying to do in the summer window, and has been doing for “weeks.”
Arsenal won the first piece of silverware on offer for the season on Sunday, beating Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield. There’s already a sense that they’ll be the side for everyone else to chase after they won the Premier League title last season.
Indeed, the way they beat serial title winners City was impressive, with a number of players starring.
In the first minute, Myles Lewis-Skelly – amid speculation over his future – assisted for Riccardo Calafiori.
Lewis-Skelly was the subject of reports that he’d been offered to Chelsea and Manchester United after Bruno Guimaraes was signed from Newcastle. The pair started alongside one another in midfield in the Community Shield.
While those reports have been revealed as false, Carragher has taken issue with them, stating on X: ‘MLS role in that Arsenal goal! Are Arsenal really looking to push him out.’
While insiders have stated Lewis-Skelly was offered nowhere and doesn’t want to leave, some transfers will still be made at the Emirates, with Gunners boss Arteta revealing what he’s trying to do this summer.
He said: “We know there are certain areas that through injuries we are weaker and we need to strengthen.
“We’re trying to do that and we’ve been trying to do that for weeks. Only when the opportunity is right for the club will we do it.”
Carragher not happy with MLS rumours
Carragher made his displeasure in rumours about Lewis-Skelly’s exit evident of late.
He said: “It felt almost like Arsenal offered Manchester United Myles Lewis-Skelly.
“It wasn’t Myles Lewis-Skelly saying, I want to leave, or his people putting something out. That’s where the shock came from, not so much the players’ side of it.
“I still can’t believe it.
“Obviously, last season wasn’t great for him for the whole season, but when a young player has already put in performances like I’ve seen him put in at the Bernabeu – maybe over a year or 18 months ago, at left-back, he was running the game at the Bernabeu – and then his performance in the final in central midfield against Paris Saint-Germain.
“You can’t play at that level unless you’re pretty special at that age. All young players have ups and downs. Last season he didn’t play as much as he probably would have liked.
“But his ceiling is so high for the performances he’s already put in as a 20-year-old kid.
“I couldn’t believe that Arsenal would even think about letting him go. It does feel like a strange one.”
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