"The market is difficult" - Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal have to sign players who will take them to the 'next level'

Arsenal are the youngest team in the Premier League this season with the lowest average age. Mikel Arteta has trusted his young guns repeatedly to go on the pitch and do the job for him and his players have not let him down on most occasions.

Arteta is trying to create a culture where the youth can take the leadership and can express themselves with freedom. The Spaniard is attempting to move forward with a nice blend of experienced customers and emerging talent so the club can thrive in the long-term.

But realistically he is well aware that Arsenal need top professionals and high quality players at the club to compete for Premier League royalty. January has brought a series of disappointing results for the club.

They crashed out of the FA Cup in the third round due to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of EFL Championship side Nottingham Forest. A few days later they lost to Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final.

The fanbase has been left frustrated with these results and their concerns grew after Arsenal were restricted to a 0-0 draw at the Emirates in the Premier League on Sunday. Mikel Arteta was quizzed about his plans for the January transfer window in the post-match press conference after the Burnley game.

"It's what we planned, but the market is difficult, it's complicated. We knew that, but it's a lot to manage and we have to make the right decisions with players that we believe are going to really help us and try to bring in ones that can take us to the next level."

The Spaniard is well aware that they need to spend shrewdly and bringing in any players who are not compatible with the philosophy will hurt the club. The supporters want to see Arsenal back in the Champions League places and competing in Europe and the new signings must help the cause.

The boss was also asked if he preferred that the business be sorted earlier in the month rather than towards the end of the window. He responded:

"I think that's the dream of every manager, to have them in the team on the first day, but it isn't realistic and in this window as well, the history of this window, a lot of them happen right at the end."

The Arsenal manager believes his team have come a long way and emphasized the fact that any incoming players should contribute towards taking them a notch higher.

"Players that come here have to be able to take us to the next level. We already have a level, and we want to see much better standards than we already have, and that is how we're going to recruit."

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Arsenal are pushing to make it to the Premier League top-four and get back into Champions League

The Gunners last competed in the Champions League back in 2017 and haven't finished in the top-four since then. The way this campaign started, Arsenal were looking doomed having lost their first three games of the Premier League. However, they have since managed to steady the ship.

Mikel Arteta's team is currently placed sixth in the points table with 36 points from 21 games. They are in a four-way battle for fourth spot with West Ham, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

If the Gunners had managed all three points at home against Burnley they could have finished Game Week 23 in fourth position. As it stands, the position belongs to the Red Devils, who won their clash against the Hammers with a late Marcus Rashford winner.

Arsenal must recruit a top striker and a quality midfielder in January to strengthen their chances of finishing in the Champions League places. The current squad is quite young and inexperienced and one cannot bank on them to finish the season on a high.