Mikel Arteta jets out to US to meet Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke at NHL game as he pushes to get two transfers over line
ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta has jetted out to America to meet the club’s owner Stan Kroenke as he pushes for new signings.
The duo were spotted together as they witnessed the Colorado Avalanche beat Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 in the National Hockey League on Monday.
The meeting in Denver comes with the Gunners reportedly preparing to offer the Spaniard a contract extension - although the manager’s initial concern is the January transfer window.
Arteta is desperate for attacking reinforcements but looks to have missed out on his No.1 target Dusan Vlahovic, with the Fiorentina star seemingly set to join Juventus instead.
He also wants to bring in Arthur Melo from Juventus, but the Premier League side only have a week left to bolster their ranks before the window closes.
A number of other forwards have been linked with Arsenal over recent days, including Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Real Madrid’s Luka Jovic.
And Sun Sport understands that Arteta used his trip to the States to try and persuade billionaire Kroenke to splash the cash over the coming days as they discussed transfer funds and targets.
Arteta, whose team have gone four games without scoring, will soon be leaving the US to join his squad in Dubai for some warm weather training due to their 18-day gap between matches.
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Arsenal are staring at a blank February calendar of just two games after being dumped out of all cup competitions.
The Gunners' last hopes of silverware were dashed by Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final to leave them just in a top-four fight.
Arteta's men were already out of the FA Cup after their third round loss to Nottingham Forest and have no European football this season.
And, in a weird twist of fate, Arsenal currently have just two matches scheduled in the space of 41 days.
Their next fixture is on Thursday 10 February against Wolves at Molineux and their only other game in February as things stand is against Brentford on Saturday 19 February.
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