Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta insists he’s happy with the club’s transfer window and feels the squad is stronger now than this time last year.

The Gunners made some promising signings in the transfer window just gone, with Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, and Christos Tzolis coming in.

Still, Arsenal also let Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus leave, while Ethan Nwaneri joined Borussia Dortmund on loan, though he can be recalled in January, as Fabrizio Romano reported for CaughtOffside.

Overall, though, Arteta is happy with his squad and told his press conference that the players now need to prove it.

Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s squad

Mikel Arteta looks on during Arsenal’s win vs Kairat (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

“This is what I feel (that the squad is stronger),” Arteta said. “Now we have to prove it.

“I think we are better equipped, I think we have more players available than what we had at the start of last season.

“I think we have increased the quality and we have increased the leadership in the team as well, which is very important.”

Want more CaughtOffside coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

The leadership that Arteta is referring to presumably comes from experienced duo Guimaraes and Konsa, who have performed at a high level in the Premier League for the last few years.

It’s an underrated quality to have, with Arteta now arguably only having even more leaders and winners who can take the team further than before.

Arsenal fans might not agree entirely, but Arteta probably also makes an important point about the availability of some players being something that can easily be overlooked.

Arsenal’s returning stars like new signings?

Arsenal had a lot of injury troubles last season, with important players like Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Kai Havertz barely playing together.

When those three are all on form at the same time, AFC can be a much better attacking side than we saw at numerous points last term.

It still looks risky, however, to go into a new season with less depth up front when there is that history there of losing certain key players to injury so often.

There’s surely no guarantee that Arsenal will have better luck with the fitness of Saka, Odegaard, and Havertz this year, even if that currently gives Arteta some confidence about the shape of his squad.