Mikel Arteta's new deal will stop Arsenal from buying stop-gap measures

Mikel Arteta has agreed to sign a contract extension at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has signed a new one-year contract at Arsenal and oddly this news has been met with a rather large degree of dissent. People have taken to social media to express their concern that this news will mean Arsenal won’t sign a new midfielder and what that could mean for the team’s aspirations – or at least that is the radio-friendly version of what has been said.

I do not think Arteta extending his four-year stay at Arsenal definitely means Wenger won’t sign another midfielder but I do think it signals an insurance policy.

Francis Coquelin cannot play a full season without back-up is the reason used to justify much of the anger at Arteta’s new deal. It’s hard to disagree with the need for support in each position but I do disagree with the assumption that what we have already doesn’t constitute back up.

I regularly see people claiming Bielik cannot be trusted to support Coquelin which I find slightly ironic considering 99% of the fan base looked on in bemusement when Coquelin was brought back from Charlton.

We didn’t know – even Wenger admits he didn’t know – how well Francis would take to being thrust back into the team and how much he would improve the team. We also cannot know how well Bielik would perform if he was promoted to the first team this season.

This is, understandably, still a worry for most who want the club to ensure they have ready first team players in each position to cover any eventuality. What I don’t understand is how many of these people will happily see Arsène sign any specialist defensive midfielder just for the numbers.

Too often I see people championing signing “a player, any player, as long as they can do a job” and I think it’s madness. As a group, we’ve complained for years about players who can “just do a job” and willed Arsenal to sign players of the quality of Cazorla, Özil, Alexis and Cech.

Low-risk deals

In the past four summers, we’ve moved away from signing players to fill gaps to signing players who genuinely improve the team. Wenger still takes a punt or two on young players like Sanogo and Bielik or a freebie like Flamini – relatively low-risk deals – but overall the focus has been on players to push us forward.

It would be a step back for us to use up a squad place on a player whose only real chance at getting into the team is off the back of an injury. We need to ensure we only sign players who are going to improve our starting eleven, not insurance policies. We have internal solutions for insurance.

Arteta might have ageing legs but between him, Bielik, Flamini and maybe even Chambers we have enough in reserve to manage Coquelin’s condition. In the past, our injuries have happened because players have been pushed to their limit as we’ve had little in the way of viable rotation or due to poor tackles on the pitch.

The latter is unavoidable. We cannot prepare for such an injury as there is no way of predicting when or if it will happen. The former is manageable. We can ensure players aren’t overplayed by giving them rest throughout the season and being able to make the decision to leave them out or take them off if they get a little niggle.

You expect any player worthy of a starting berth to play at least 40 games a season and in a 60 game season we are would be asking 3-4 players to play one in three games. It sounds a lot when you put it like that but there are plenty of teams we should be able to beat even without Coquelin – especially in the games where we will completely dominate possession.

With the number of games we have ahead, we could use his experience, his desire and his quality as it will be vital for next season.
– Wenger on Arteta

Arteta still has a lot to offer

I think it is also easily forgotten how Arteta, in a double pivot with Ramsey, took us closer to the title than the team got last season. There is no definitive way to play that defensive role and that may obscure the benefits of keeping Arteta as back up to Coquelin as they are so different.

Most people want competition for Coquelin and whilst it’s probably true that Arteta isn’t much of a competition anymore, that doesn’t diminish his quality or his ability to play the defensive role – there is no definitive way of playing as a defensive midfielder and possibly that clouds the benefits of keeping Arteta as he is so different to Coquelin.

I liken the search for competition for Coquelin to the signing of Cech. Ospina was brought in to keep Szczesny on his toes, he was never going to be his better and possibly would never have played as much as he did had Szczesny not stupidly sparked up after the Southampton game. Cech, however, is a statement to Szczesny that says “you are no longer first choice”. Wojciech will have to battle his way back to number one rather than just wait it out for a few months.

That is what we need to do for all positions. If we aren’t signing a young player to learn his way into Wenger’s thoughts and are instead signing a first team squad player then we need to ensure that player is at minimum equal to, but ideally better than what we have.

Difficult to find players

Finding a player to fulfill that requirement is not as easy as having the money as so many naively believe. Bayern Munich and Barcelona both were finding it hard to find players last summer – a defensive midfielder and a centre-back respectively. Bayern ended up with 33-year-old Alonso and Barca settled for our third choice crocked ex-captain. I think this shows how hard it is to find top quality players. If these two giants are struggling what chance do the rest of us have?

Kondogbia has chosen Inter, Schneiderlin isn’t a defensive midfielder and far too expensive to boot, Carvalho and the Bender brothers seem hard to prize away and getting someone like Javi Martinez seems like pie in the sky. There are other options like Camacho, who I am assured is the business, but who knows if he is on our radar or even if he is for sale?

Most of these players are the sort we should be going for and none of them are players you would purchase as “back up” – they are starters. If we can’t get that, then should we settle for less? Should we pay a reasonable transfer fee, agents fees, signing on fees and agree to 4 years of substantial wages for a player we would probably want to discard in 12 months when a truly top level player becomes available?

Keeping Arteta for another year seems the most prudent choice and allows the club to keep the money that would be spent on an average player to put towards a better one. I want to see better than Coquelin at the club and if keeping Arteta for another year helps us secure that player then so be it. I can think of much worse things for the club to do.