Unai Emery says it’s difficult to find players who can give the team better performances than the players they currently have, but that the club are working on bringing in maybe one player before the end of the January window.
Perhaps reading from the Arsene Wenger handbook on how to deal with questions about transfers, the Arsenal head coach seemed to be talking about the difficulty of finding quality players in mid-season, but after a few weeks in which our form on the pitch has been pretty poor, those are words that might well frustrate some fans.
Speaking ahead of the crunch showdown with Chelsea on Saturday, the Spaniard was asked about potential arrivals – this despite the fact he said last week that the only incomings would be loan deals.
“It’s not easy to take players who can help with more performance than the players we have now,” he said.
“The club is working. I spoke with Sven, with Raul about different possibilities for players. They are working but it’s not easy to take players who can help us a big performance now.
“Transfers with something special can help us, and we are looking, with the possibility of one player and if we can take him to help us in one position on the field, maybe we can.”
He refused to be drawn on whether or not Barcelona outcast Denis Suarez was that player, insisting that conversations about transfers were a private matter for club officials, but it is widely believed that he is the main target.
The sticking point of the deal appears to be Barcelona’s desire to sell the player, whereas Arsenal do not want a mandatory purchase option.