Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta his too scared of signing a genuine No.9 and his bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins was nothing more than a PR stunt to appease supporters, so claims Troy Deeney.

Advertisement At a time when manager Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff are searching for new solutions to find goals, could a counter-attacking identity help navigate these final three striker-less months?

But even a year before Arteta was appointed as Arsenal boss, he was strongly linked with replacing Wenger. However, the club decided to opt for experience by bringing Unai Emery in. At the time, however, Arsene Wenger gave five reasons why Mikel Arteta would have even suited the job a year before he replaced Emery in the hotseat.