Arsenal interested in signing veteran Barcelona star rated highly by Mikel Arteta - Reports

Arsenal are reportedly interested in snapping up veteran Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto.

The 31-year-old - who runs out of contract in the summer - has only made eight appearances across competitions this season, starting four, contributing three goals. Two of those strikes came in Barca's 3-2 league win at home last week, their final game of 2023.

Roberto is versatile enough to play in midfield and defence, endearing him to many English clubs. SPORT (via Sport Witness) reports that one of the Spaniard's suitors is Arsenal, whose boss, Mikel Arteta, is a fan of the player.

Sergi Roberto has an option to extend his stay at the Camp Nou by a year, but if he doesn't, the Premier League could be an option. Considering that Gunners boss Arteta values Roberto's versatility, the Premier League club could explore a move for the Barca player in the summer.

In 357 appearances across competitions since 2010-11, Roberto has contributed 19 goals and 40 assists for Barca. He has won seven La Liga, two UEFA Champions League and six Copa del Rey titles, among others.

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"The team kept trying and had an incredible attitude" - Arsenal boss after West Ham loss

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

Arsenal spurned the opportunity to take over at the top of the Premier League by slumping to a 2-0 home defeat to West Ham United on Thursday (December 28).

Goals from Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos sunk the Gunners, who bossed proceedings for large swathes without scoring. Arteta's side had a record 77 touches inside the West Ham box but couldn't breach their citadel.

Ruing the loss despite dominating the game, Arteta had no qualms admitting that West Ham were the better team at both ends and deservedly won. The Spaniard said (as per the Gunners' website):

"Congratulate West Ham and praise my players, that’s what I can say. This is football. You look what we’ve done in the game, how much we generated in the game, and to see the result is very disappointing, but they were better than us in both boxes. They had two shots, with the penalty, three; we had 30.

"I don’t know how many touches in the box, how many situations, how many open goals to score, and we haven’t. In football, you have to do that better if you want to win, and, today, we haven’t won because of that, and for the rest, the team kept trying and had an incredible attitude again."

Arsenal close the year with a trip to Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday (December 31). With leaders Liverpool not playing before January 1, a win will take the Gunners back to the league summit.