Arsenal willing to sanction 'significant spending' in January transfer window

Arsenal are prepared to spend heavily in the January transfer window to give manager Mikel Arteta the boost he is looking for in pursuit of a top-four finish.

After a miserable start to the season, Arsenal have enjoyed a superb run of form which has carried them up to fourth in the Premier League table, although they could drop behind rivals Tottenham if Antonio Conte's side win one of their two games in hand.

Arteta is understood to want a new midfielder and striker as soon as possible to try and ensure they can hold on to their position, and The Guardian expect him to receive the kind of backing he is looking for.

Arsenal are ready to release plenty of funds to Arteta, but the tricky thing will be finding the right targets in the January window, when players are infamously trickier to sign. Up top, they have been chasing Fiorentina's Dusan Vlahovic, whose interest in moving to the Emirates is not as strong as Arsenal's desire to sign him.

On whether someone like Vlahovic could be signed this month, Arteta said: “I think with the amount of things, and the way that we want to evolve the squad, we have to maximise every window in many different ways and we are alert.

"Edu [the sporting director] and his team are working very hard, as we know exactly what we need to do. Whether we can accomplish that in January or the summer is a different question as it is related to other stuff.

“If it is the right player and we can afford it, and we can do what we want to do, we will discuss it and make the best possible decision. We are open.”

While Arteta hopes to land a new striker soon, he is prioritising a move for a midfielder, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles' imminent departure to Roma leaving them someone short in the heart of the pitch.

“We are going to move and look for options because we are very short there,” Arteta said of his midfield search.

The boss did, however, rule out the prospect of re-signing Jack Wilshere, who has been training with Arsenal for the past few weeks while he seeks to regain his fitness and find a new club.

“I think I was very clear with the situation with Jack and the role that he was going to have being around here and we continue the same way," Arteta stressed.