I doubt they think it’s below them so to speak, however yeah I was thinking the same. They aren’t building a team to compete in the league they are building a team to beat Bayern, Barca, Juventus,and Madrid in the CL for sure.
I wonder if Denis Suárez is someone we should be giving a look. With Barça buying Seri and Paulinho and him not even being chosen before those buys, surely he’d be willing to move on? Only problem is he seems a bit offensive as an 8, and it’s doubtful Wenger would curtail those instincts
When I’ve watched him he’s a footballer I like, though.
Well this is the only subjectively false (subjectively being rather conservative, as Arteta remains by far the best 6 we’ve had since Gilberto) part of the statement:
The rest is just objectively false, Arteta came up as a 6 in La Masia and played in a pivot at PSG or with Xabi Alonso at la Real when he played there, it was at lesser sides like Rangers and Everton where they used him as a more attacking player. Wenger didn’t make him more defensive minded but rather just moved him into the position he was formed in originally, something Arteta did himself by playing behind Song in the pivot despite Song theoretically being the more defensive of the two.
The comparisons between Suárez and Arteta, therefore, are few and far between…they were both formed in the same academy, but in different positions.
I think you are reading rather too much into my comment tbh. Firstly it was a note to the fact that Arteta wore the number 8 shirt, not having the position of a typical “8” that you brought up.
Secondly I didn’t consider Arteta good at defending or attacking. He hardly had any real success for us, he was fairly average and a “meh” signing. But that’s subjective.