Mikel Arteta has said he was frustrated at Arsenal‘s failure to sign a midfielder on deadline day after confirming Mohamed Elneny will be sidelined for several months with a hamstring injury.
Sources told ESPN that Arsenal had three bids rejected for Aston Villa‘s Douglas Luiz on Thursday — the last of which was worth £25 million — as they tried to bolster their midfield options in the wake of setbacks for Elneny and Thomas Partey.
Elneny has seen at least two specialists to examine the extent of the problem, although there was better news on Partey, who has been struggling with a thigh injury.
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“With Mo, probably it is a little bit easier [to give a timeframe] and we are talking months,” Arteta told a news conference on Friday.
“With Thomas, we are talking weeks or even shorter than that, I hope.” Asked about his disappointment at missing out on Luiz, Arteta continued: “Listen, we had a lot of things still to do in the squad. You see the amount of departures comparing to the players that we have recruited.
“The club has done a phenomenal job and put everything on the table to try to bring the players and the profiles we wanted. We did business pretty early but unfortunately in the last 72 hours, Thomas got injured in the same place he got injured last time and then Mo has a long-term injury and we had to react in the market.
