Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal “still have a lot of things to be done” before the transfer window closes at the end of the month but he was very vague about what that meant.

Mikel Arteta has already mastered the art of saying a lot without saying much at all. He can talk and sound like he’s saying stuff but when you actually look at what he said, mostly it tells you little.

Take, for instance, his answer when asked a simple question about what he thought about Arsenal’s business so far in the window and whether the club will do more. “Well, we identified what we wanted to do and how we can strengthen our team short, medium and long term, and what we needed to achieve that,” he said.

“We defined the profile of player that suits the model that we have at the moment at the club that can sustain our financial position, and we made three movements in relation to that.”

Does that tell you anything? All it says is Arsenal decided what they needed for the plan they have that fits within their budget, something every club, business or household on the planet does. He doesn’t say what the profile or plan is, what the budget might be or if he would like anything more added.

Throughout the press conference you can see that Arteta is being careful not to upset his finely balanced apple cart. There are players who want to leave and the club want to sell who could end up staying. I understand that he has to be careful with his words, but this isn’t that and it’s been going on since day one.

I like Arteta, I really do, but by god, do I miss Arsene Wenger‘s press conferences.

So, yes, Arteta did admit that “there is still a lot of things to be done and a lot of clubs involved and you can see that things have started to move at a different speed in the last week or so. It’s been a really difficult transfer window and probably a lot of things will happen in the last week or so.”

That’s something of an understatement…