Every word from Mikel Arteta on Dowman, Gyokeres, no Mosquera, Calafiori and further transfers

He's been incredible, he was very clear from the beginning where he wanted to play and how passionate I felt from him from day one when we first spoke. You can see the boys, you can see the environment as well, very excited with his arrival.

Was Viktor always first choice – you looked at a lot of strikers this window?

Yeah, well we can’t talk about how the processes work but it's a decision that we take between all of us, especially with ownership, then the board, then Andrea [Berta] and the scouting department, and also myself and we were very clear on the talent that we identified in the window.

But actually to deliver it is something very, very different and I think the club has done incredibly well, Andrea and his team, they've been absolutely fantastic. So I mean so early in the window, we already have the reinforcements that we wanted.

Will Viktor be training tomorrow and in contention to play against Spurs on Thursday?

Well I think he hasn’t had a single training session with the team since the last game with Sporting when they became champions. So we will assess him tomorrow, he's done all the medicals, everything is looking good but to get him up to speed with the right levels of fitness I think is very important.

So we're not going to stop him, we want him with us as quick as possible but we'll have to assess and the medical team will do that.

You've obviously signed a few players already but there seems to be a special excitement around Viktor. Do you feel he can have that kind of transformative effect on the club? Is he that kind of signing?

Well, I hope so. We have a few of them as well in this window and that's what we want to create as well. You know that excitement internally, that competition and those resources internally and externally.

We want our supporters as excited as possible, really believing in what the team can deliver, creating at the Emirates that special atmosphere and all that is going to be super important for us to be successful.

You talked about wanting to add depth and quality, are you still looking to add more or are you content with the number of players?

Let's see, the market is still going on and we'll have to balance that out with the squad as well. I think we'll be open to see what happens.

Just one more on Max Dowman, I know there's a responsibility to protect him and maybe not talk about him too much but if he keeps doing that it's going to be difficult, isn't it?

Yeah, it is special. Obviously what he's done today against this team in the time that he had on the pitch is something certainly not common to witness for a 15-year-old. We are extremely happy to have him.

I think again the environment that he's around in, his family, the people at the club and around the academy as well, super helpful because they put him into this position so early in his journey, having a real chance and a real presence when he plays for the first time.

Can you just tell us the reason why there was no Cristhian Mosquera today?

Yeah, because he needs to start to pick up the fitness again with him. He played the under-21s, then he didn't really train with Valencia, then that signing period was extended a little bit and the conditions are really tough.

It's a lot of information for him, a lot of physical demand that we put in so we're going to have to manage him slowly.

And Riccardo Calafiori coming off, what was the issue there?

Yeah, he said that he felt a little tweak, so I don't know how big it is but hopefully not.

We saw Martin Zubimendi start for the first time, he's quite competitive isn't he and he even picked up a booking in the friendly. What do you think about his performance?

Very good. I think the demand that Newcastle put on you, especially in midfield, with the kind of plays and profiles that he had, I think he coped with it with intensity, with the physicality. He's so smart, he's one step ahead constantly, he can read situations, he can execute at higher speed, whether he has space or not, and that's not a common thing to have in a player, especially when you're a midfield player.

Viktor hits his penalties really hard, will he be the taker?

Well, I'm sure that he will step in if they allow him to do so, because as you say he's been very consistent and he's scored many goals, but we have some other penalty takers, really good ones as well.

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more