Mikel Arteta excited by ‘big summer’ after Andrea Berta’s arrival at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta is looking forward to “a big summer” working with Arsenal’s new sporting director, Andrea Berta, as the club attempt to strengthen their squad to sustain another Premier League title push next season.

Arsenal go into Tuesday night’s meeting with Fulham trailing the leaders, Liverpool, by 12 points with nine games to play and look destined to finish as runners up for a third straight campaign. But after the arrival of Berta – the former Atlético Madrid sporting director who has replaced Edu – Arsenal are expected to step up their search for additions, with a striker believed to be the main objective.

Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres has emerged as a potential target given that Newcastle are adamant his Sweden teammate Alexander Isak is not for sale, and Arsenal have also heavily scouted Benjamin Sesko of RB Leipzig. Arsenal have a €60m (£50.2m) deal in place for the Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi and are hoping to extend the contracts of Bukayo Saka and William Saliba, whose deals expire in 2027.

According to Arteta, who celebrated his fifth anniversary in charge in December, Berta’s arrival can help Arsenal to take the next step towards winning the title for the first time since 2004.

“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different,” he said. “But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step. It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.”

Berta was introduced to the media before Arteta’s press conference on Monday having been confirmed in his role 24 hours earlier. He will be at the Emirates Stadium for the Fulham game and the Arsenal manager said he expected the former banker to make a real impact.

“What I’m very confident about is how he’s going to make everybody better,” he said. “Because the way he is, the personality he has, how passionate he has and what he does – that’s what we need. We need new blood with people that are so ambitious that they are so attached to the football club and what we already do but want to add value.”

Arteta said he would leave to Berta negotiations over contracts for Saka, who is in contention to start against Fulham after three months out with a hamstring injury, and Saliba. “It’s a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team,” he said.

Arteta insisted Saka was ready to return after surgery and is confident the forward can regain his best form. “Sometimes these things happen and they happen to the best players and it doesn’t mean it has to happen again,” he said.

“He needs to be fully aware that obviously everything is increasing: the level, the speed; the time you have to execute is shorter. You want to do things slower? Forget about it, you won’t be efficient. So, you probably have to be faster, sharper, at the maximum speed and you have to train and prepare for that.”