Arsenal

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter in Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed the club are considering whether to send young goalkeeper Karl Hein out on loan.

With David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale both on a break after Spain and England reached the Euro 2024 final, Hein is the senior keeper on Arsenal's three-match tour of the United States.

However, a decision will eventually have to be made over the 22-year-old Estonia international, who signed a long-term contract extension in the summer.

The arrival of England youth international Tommy Setford from Ajax means it is more likely Hein - who was outstanding in the pre-season friendly against Bournemouth, making three key saves in the actual game and more in the penalty shootout which decided the contest in Los Angeles - will head out on loan.

"That's the conversation we are having," said Arteta.

"Obviously, David and Aaron are away at the moment and we are really really short in that position, but we want to develop our players - especially a player like Karl who has big potential and a big future ahead of him.

"He needs to play games, so we're going to explore that option as well."

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal opened their three-match tour of the United States by beating Bournemouth 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Los Angeles.

Fabio Vieira gave Arsenal a first-half lead when he met Reiss Nelson's deep cross on the volley and drove it first time into the far bottom corner.

In a competitive game, Karl Hein denied Dominic Solanke then Daniel Jebbison - who was signed from Sheffield United this summer - but had no chance of keeping out Antoine Semenyo’s strike, which hit Omar Rekik as he tried to close the effort down and dropped into the far corner.

It may only be a pre-season friendly but what did you take away from the game?

Arsenal fans, what did you think?, external

Bournemouth supporters, have your say here, external

Inter Milan are hopeful that Arsenal's pursuit of 22-year-old Bologna and Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori will force them to sell 24-year-old Poland defender Jakub Kiwior. (Standard), external

Fulham will make an improved offer for Arsenal's Emile Smith Rowe. The Whites and Crystal Palace have both had transfer bids for the midfielder turned down by the Gunners this month. (Sky Sports), external

Meanwhile, Arsenal are willing to listen to bids for Eddie Nketiah, with Marseille emerging as a potential destination for the forward. (Mirror), external

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Arsenal via Getty Images

Leicester boss Steve Cooper is keen on a reunion with Arsenal forward Reiss Nelson.

Cooper worked with Nelson while England Under-16 and Under-17 coach and Leicester have registered their interest,

Nelson made 24 appearances, scoring once, for the Gunners last season but made just five starts - one of them in the Premier League.

He is part of Arsenal's travelling squad in the United States with the Gunners facing Bournemouth in California early on Thursday.

Nelson has spent time on loan at Hoffenheim and Feyenoord and has made 89 appearances for Arsenal, scoring eight goals, having come through the academy.

Cooper has made no secret of his desire to bring new players in, with Leicester having sold Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea for £30m.

They have signed Bobby Decordova-Reid on a free transfer, Michael Golding from Chelsea, defender Caleb Okoli from Atalanta and made Abdul Fatawu's loan from Sporting Lisbon permanent.

"We definitely have to bring players in - everybody knows that," said Cooper after Tuesday's 2-1 friendly win at Shrewsbury.

"Sometimes it's not easy to do and I understand that as well. You've got to bring the right players in.

"But we've got to make sure when that first game comes we're in with a chance of being able to what we need to do in the Premier League."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Riccardo Calafiori has been cleared to have his medical and the intention is for him to join up with Arsenal on their current tour of the United States.

The Gunners are in Los Angeles for tonight’s game against Bournemouth and the match against Manchester United on Saturday before heading to Philadelphia where they will play Liverpool on 31 July.

Image source, Getty Images

Eddie Nketiah has encouraged Arsenal's younger players to grasp every opportunity on the Gunners' pre-season tour of the United States.

Mikel Arteta has taken 12 academy prospects in his squad for the trip and they will be keen to impress the Arsenal manager before several of the senior international players join up with the squad later on in the tour.

The 25-year-old impressed on his first pre-season trip with Arsenal, getting his maiden first-team minutes and making three substitute appearances just before the 2017-18 campaign.

Nketiah then went on to make 10 senior appearances during that season after impressing on his senior debut against Norwich in the Carabao Cup.

Now the centre-forward has given some advice to the academy prospects looking to follow in his footsteps this season, telling the club website, external: "Pre-season is really good for a lot of the lads who haven't trained or played with us that much, to show what they can do.

"It is a platform - even for us now - to make our mark and start playing games regularly and get fit.

"I think there are a lot of examples of players who did well in pre-season and have gone on to play and have minutes in the first-team, so it's a really good chance.

"I know what it's like for the young kids coming through, so I'm just trying to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

"I think the coaches do a really good job too. At dinner, they mix up the tables so everyone sits with different people and can interact, and the team activities that we do allow you to get closer."

Reflecting on his first pre-season trip with the senior squad, Nketiah said: "You're nervous, excited and eager. You just want to make your mark and enjoy it.

"I think it's really good when you go away because you can see how the top players work on a day-to-day basis. That's what I was able to see. It shows you the level you need to get to and allows you to keep progressing."

Simon Stone in Los Angeles
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko used a Ukrainian phrase to sum up the nagging disappointment the Gunners are looking to avoid this season – don’t end up biting your elbows.

The phrase is one of regret at something that seems attainable, but is not.

It could be used to describe Arsenal’s Premier League title aspirations for the past two seasons.

For extended periods in both campaigns, it seemed Arsenal were on the brink of ending a near two-decade wait for a Premier League crown.

On both occasions, they ended up disappointed as Manchester City extended their tenure at the top to an unprecedented four seasons in a row.

"How much City pushed us in the last two years shows how demanding the league is and where the level is,” Zinchenko said.

"In the beginning of the season, you can lose some games and drop some points and think you will be back. But these kinds of points, you can just miss in the last period of the season, then you try to bite your elbows but the elbows are too far and it is too late.

"It shows how demanding this league is."

Zinchenko is uniquely placed to assess the strengths of the opponent given he spent six seasons with Manchester City, winning four league titles, an FA Cup and four EFL Cups before joining Arsenal for £30m in 2022.

The 27-year-old sees no value in mimicking his old club. He thinks, under manager Mikel Arteta, Arsenal are already on the right path.

"We don’t need to copy someone like City," he said.

"Of course, at the moment they are probably the best team in the world and you always need to look at the best. But you don’t want to be like them, we need to be on top of them.

"Mikel and his staff are doing an amazing job here. You can see the progress. I really hope and believe that in the close future, the club can achieve a lot of good things."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter, in Los Angeles

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has refused to let the war in Ukraine spoil his dream of owning a restaurant in Kyiv.

Zinchenko and his wife Vlada opened the restaurant in Kyiv last month.

“It was our dream to make something special in our home and the place we feel most comfortable, in Kiev, in Ukraine,” he said. “We have been working, especially my wife, super hard to get it done.

“I know it is the toughest time of our independent time as a country and maybe it is not the ideal timing to start a new business but still we believe the war will finish very soon and this will be there.”

“A football career is too short,” he said. “You don’t realise it until it is done.

“I am 27 and I can feel how time flies. While you are working so hard, you are earning money that you need to invest in the right way. While you are a football player, you have a lot of different things you can do to waste your money, to put it into the bin and buy a lot of different stuff.

“In this case, my wife has helped me to do the right thing."

Zinchenko is part of an Arsenal squad that opens its three-match tour of the United States against fellow Premier League club Bournemouth at LA Galaxy’s Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday (03:00 BST)

Image source, Getty Images

Mikel Arteta has said his Arsenal team are a "joy to work with" as they prepare to face Bournemouth in Los Angeles on their pre-season tour.

"It's been very positive since day one," Arteta said. "We started at Marbella for two weeks and then we had a week off. When the players arrived back at the training ground they were at it straight away.

"It's not a surprise because they're a joy of a team to work with. Even today, straight away with jet lag and high temperatures, they train at the same intensity."

Arsenal are interested in 22-year-old Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams and 28-year-old Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino, but face competition from Barcelona for both Spanish internationals. (Standard), external

Bologna are in contact with 35-year-old Germany defender Mats Hummels as they look to replace 22-year-old Riccardo Calafiori, who is set to join Arsenal. (Sky Sport Italy), external

Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

"Versatile" Riccardo Calafiori is a player who could "slot in very well" to Arsenal's side, says Italian football journalist Daniele Verri.

The Gunners are believed to be closing in on a deal with Serie A's Bologna for the 22-year-old defender.

Calafiori progressed into senior football from the Roma academy and went on to join Swiss side Basel in 2022.

He spent just one campaign in Switzerland's top flight before moving to Bologna for 4m euros (£3.3m) and was a key player in helping them to an unlikely Champions League spot last season.

Verri told BBC Sport: "He can play on the left wing or the left side of the defence. He can also play as centre-back, where he has improved a lot over the last season at Bologna.

"He is physically strong, but he is not a typical Italian defender like a [Giorgio] Chiellini, so a very man-marking defender. He is technically very gifted and is a player who can build up the play from the back.

"In a situation of ball possession, Calafiori tends to work up the pitch and become a sort of midfielder. That is going to be very helpful for Arsenal who like to have more stations when they build up their play with short passes. He will slot in very well to that."

His versatility means he could be competing with Gabriel in central defence or with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back, both of whom he topped in key stats such as dribbles and interceptions per 90 minutes last season.

Moving into a midfield position is a real possibility, having previously said himself that Manchester City's John Stones "is my reference" and "his style of play is closest to mine".

"Calafiori brings his technical quality, his understanding of the game, his capacity to build up the game and look for the right move and situation when building the game from back," Verri added.

"He will be helpful in playing the long ball or the short ball to the midfielder, and creating an extra man in midfield when they are in possession."

Simon Stone in Los Angeles
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber is determined to take the positives out of his injury-wrecked debut campaign for the Gunners.

The 23-year-old Netherlands international was one of the stars of last pre-season for Arsenal, when he looked to have been earmarked for the inverted right-back role by manager Mikel Arteta.

But those hopes collapsed when Timber ruptured his cruciate ligaments in the opening Premier League game of the season.

Timber did not return until the final match against Everton, when he came on for the last 21 minutes.

The £34m signing from Ajax did have some low moments, but he is refusing to dwell on them as he approaches his second campaign as an Arsenal player.

"It was a big blow, and at the start it was huge," said Timber, speaking at the start of the Gunners' three-game pre-season tour of the United States.

"It's never fun to be injured but I tried to look at it in a positive way. Time goes quickly. I worked with some fantastic physios and have good people around me who made me feel great and in the end I came out well."

Rather than beat himself up by the thought he was stuck in the gym doing recovery work while his team-mates were trying to wrestle the Premier League title away from Manchester City, Timber used it as motivation.

"It's not that hard when you see how they were performing last year," he said. "It gets you motivated to join them and to help them."

Arsenal play Bournemouth at LA Galaxy's 27,000-capacity stadium at 03:30 BST on Thursday.

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta understandably had mixed feelings when it came to the Euro 2024 final.

As a proud Spaniard, he was naturally delighted at the outcome of the game in Berlin. But he also felt sad for Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale, who were part of the defeated England squad.

"It was a great moment for us to win it again with this generation," he said.

"They really had to earn it in the past few years, to get that belief.

"But at the same time I was also sad, because you love your players. You want the best for them and it was a tough moment."

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

It isn't quiet in one specific part of the major football clubs - the acquisitions department.

I know that because I was once the acquisitions department - well me and the manager mostly. While each player returned from holidays like a bronzed Adonis, we were cooped up in a small darkened room, beavering the daylight hours away like vampires.

There is plenty of guesswork in the media and a fair bit of leaking from the players and their people, but the clubs usually try to keep their transfer moves as quiet as possible.

If word gets out that a player is available, they know they might lose him to another club or else the price will increase as a bidding war erupts.

‌These are high stakes games and many are impressed by those who gamble and go early.

Manchester City have always been good enough, and let's be honest wealthy enough, to be able to do this well.

The problem is that some clubs are trying to do the same thing and are ending up paying top dollar for less able players, because they haven't done their due diligence in the market.

This is another area where the use of data, or maybe over-reliance on pure data, comes into play - feed all of the numbers in, let the technology do the crunching, and out comes the answer.

The problem is that everyone else has got the same or similar data.

What is needed, of course, is good human knowledge and the vision to aid the use of the information they have got. This is why these departments should be busy just now, they shouldn't just be doing deals which are admittedly very complex legal and financial documents these days.

Even more time should be spent on ensuring the new £75m player hasn't got a hidden weakness in his game or even the odd skeleton in his closet.

Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra Newsletter

Simon Stone in Los Angeles
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu is a major doubt for the start of the season.

The 25-year-old Japan international was due to be part of the Gunners squad that travelled to the United States for their three-match tour.

Sadly, he suffered a knee injury just before departure.

Arsenal are still waiting to discover the full extent of the problem but sources have indicated Tomiyasu will not be fit for the opening Premier League game at home to Wolves on 17 August.

"It's unbelievable," said Arteta. "It happened this week.

"The kid works so hard but he had an incident in training.

"We don't know the extent yet but we kept him there for precaution and we'll see what happens."

Arsenal are prepared to offer English forward Eddie Nketiah, 25, as part of a swap deal with Crystal Palace for 24-year-old England defender Marc Guehi. (Metro), external

French club Marseille have agreed personal terms with Nketiah and are confident of completing a deal for the striker. (L'Equipe - in French), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says the club are trying to strengthen "certain positions" as they close in on the signing of Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori.

Speaking in Los Angeles at the start of Arsenal's three-match tour of the United States, Arteta told reporters there was "no update" on a deal for the 22-year-old Bologna man, who is valued at about £34m.

However, sources have said talks are progressing well and are expected to reach a positive conclusion.

Arsenal are also looking to strengthen in central midfield as they try to do better than the past two campaigns, when they have finished second to Manchester City.

"We have to," said the Gunners boss, when asked if his side have to improve despite two almost flawless seasons. "When you are so close you want to grab it.

"Perfection in this league requires different standards when you relate that word to winning the Premier League and that is what we have to do.

"There is still a lot of time left in the window and while that is more a question for the board, obviously we know there are certain positions that we want to improve and give the squad better resources in terms of numbers but the main thing is to focus on falling in love with the players we have."

Arsenal’s players are returning for pre-season in stages.

They will have returned to London after matches against Bournemouth, Manchester United and Liverpool before others, including Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, link up given their Euro 2024 campaign with England did not end until 14 July.

One of the tournament’s abiding memories was Saka scoring in the penalty shootout victory over Switzerland in the quarter-finals, banishing the memories of his failure in the previous tournament’s final defeat by Italy.

"I was very nervous," said Arteta. "What happened a few years ago plays back in your mind but he showed a lot of guts and determination and composure to take it the way he did.

"Bukayo’s role is constantly growing and evolving, he is a super important player for us and one of the main players for the national team."

Simon Stone in Los Angeles
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal arrived at their plush pre-season base in California on Sunday.

There is not much settling in time for Mikel Arteta's men though.

They will be training at a site used by the LA Rams - whose owner Stan Kroenke also owns Arsenal - at 11:00 local time (19:00 BST).

That will be followed by a briefing from Arteta, who may well be asked about the futures of Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah, all of whom have been named in the Gunners squad for this trip.

Arsenal play Bournemouth at LA Galaxy's stadium on Wednesday, followed by matches against Manchester United and Liverpool.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal's preparations for the new campaign have begun in earnest after travelling over the weekend for their pre-season tour of the USA.

Mikel Arteta named an initial 26-man squad for the trip, with Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz joining the squad from Thursday, 25 July due to their national teams' progression in Copa America and Euro 2024.

Players involved in the semi-finals of the Euros - Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and William Saliba - will link up with their team-mates after the tour.

While in the US, the Gunners will play three fixtures against Premier League opposition:

Arsenal v Bournemouth - Thursday, 25 July (03:30 BST)

Arsenal v Manchester United - Sunday, 28 July (01:00 BST)

Liverpool v Arsenal - Thursday, 1 August (00:30 BST)

Arsenal are close to agreeing a deal with Bologna worth a combined £42.1m for 22-year-old Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori. (Sky Sports), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal defender Ben White is one of 13 senior players named in Mikel Arteta's squad for the three-match tour of the United States.

White made himself unavailable for England duty during the latter part of Gareth Southgate's time in charge.

It remains to be seen whether the 26-year-old reverses that decision when Southgate's successor is named.

Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah have all been included, despite being linked with moves elsewhere.

Arteta has picked internationals knocked out by the last-16 stage of Euro 2024, such as Leandro Trossard, whose last game for Belgium was on 1 July.

Also included is England youth goalkeeper Tommy Setford, whose move from Ajax was completed on Sunday.

Arsenal open their tour against Bournemouth at LA Galaxy's stadium on 24 July.

They face Manchester United at the SoFi Stadium on 27 July before heading east to take on Liverpool in Philadelphia on 31 July.