Arsenal given green light for double January transfer but Andrea Berta faces biggest task yet

Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has the green light for a double January deal according to Premier League rulesn that was not open to the Gunners last season.

Arsenal have endured an injury-ravaged season so far, and sadly for Mikel Arteta, the latest signs have not improved. Ben White was taken off with a hamstring injury against Wolves, while both Cristhian Mosquera and Max Dowman have been welcomed to the treatment room in recent weeks.

The good news has been the return of Gabriel Jesus, while both Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes are pushing for a return to action before the end of the year football.london understands. However, the volume of issues suffered in the squad has led to questions regarding whether the market will be used.

Mikel Arteta was asked ahead of the win over Club Brugge whether he would be tempted to use the winter market to reinforce his squad. The Spaniard, however, did little other than to refocus on the players currently at his disposal.

“At the moment we're just focusing on bringing the players back,” he said. “Hopefully, it will be a matter of weeks.

“We know how important those weeks are going to be because we're going to come into the period where a lot of things start to get defined in that period, and hopefully we're going to have those players back.”

A “matter of weeks” or “matter of days” has become effectively the coaches' catchphrases this season, but neither has given much insight or accuracy, which is likely by design, as to when players might, more specifically, return to action.

When it comes to January, however, as opposed to last season, the club do have the green light to better utilise the loan market should they so wish. Premier League rules stipulate that clubs can only sign two players from other clubs in the English top flight.

Last season, Arsenal had already signed Neto from Bournemouth and Raheem Sterling from Chelsea on loan, and so when the winter window came around, despite again suffering with injuries, particularly up top, no player was brought in.

The difficulty, however, is finding players of the requisite quality that are both available on a loan and fit the position needed. Arsenal are experiencing many problems in the back four with Mosquera, Gabriel and White all currently out and having had William Saliba, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber miss games too this season.

Finding a versatile defender who is both good enough and fit enough to join a side challenging for multiple titles will be the biggest test, perhaps, of Andrea Berta’s reign in the role of sporting director.