After a bit of a delay, Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have responded to the latest news about the European Super League.

On Thursday, a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union announced that FIFA and UEFA rules prohibiting tournaments like the European Super League were unlawful.

This prompted European Super League founders A22 Sports to release their proposals for how their new competition would work.

But this was quickly followed by counter-statements in England from the likes of Manchester United and the Premier League, reaffirming their commitment to avoid such a competition.

One by one, other big-six clubs followed. Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur all released similar statements on Thursday, leaving only Arsenal and Liverpool remaining silent.

Liverpool did at least give a statement to the Liverpool Echo, confirming they had no plans to rejoin the European Super League.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust then made a statement to PA Media on Thursday night, saying:

“Arsenal should immediately reassure their supporters by joining all the other clubs and major footballing bodies in rejecting any form of European Super League.

“Arsenal fans were as one on this issue. KSE must demonstrate they put custodianship over investor self interest.”

Arsenal eventually responded on Friday morning, releasing a statement saying the following:

“Arsenal Football Club notes the judgement by the European Court of Justice on Thursday, 21 December 2023 and our position in relation to the European Super League has not changed.

“We will continue to play in UEFA competitions and continue to work with fellow European clubs and the European Club Association (ECA).”

When asked about the European Super League in his press conference on Friday, Mikel Arteta essentially repeated that statement.

“We are very clear,” Arteta said. “Exactly the same. We remain in the same position. We love playing in the Champions League and will continue to do so.

“The conversations that we had were very clear as to the experience that we had as you said two years ago. I think the club has issued a statement that is very clear and transparent, and we’ll stick to that.”

Arsenal’s statement is clearly quite brief, effectively only confirming that their position hasn’t changed, but a newcomer to the situation could be forgiven for not knowing exactly what the club’s position was to begin with.

For that, we have to go back to 2021, when Arsenal last released a statement on the European Super League.

After initially joining up with the Super League (along with all the other big-six clubs), Arsenal withdrew and released an apology.

“As a result of listening to you and the wider football community over recent days we are withdrawing from the proposed Super League,” Arsenal wrote in 2021.

“We made a mistake, and we apologise for it.”

Beyond that, it’s not entirely clear what Arsenal’s position is. All we can really say for sure is that Arsenal still don’t currently intend to take part in the new proposed European Super League.