Arsenal news: Mikel Arteta plots double Real Madrid transfer raid as Pep Guardiola fires warning
Arsenal continue to lead the Premier League by two points with an upcoming trip to the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the title contenders.
Arsenal are gearing up for a busy end to December with matches coming up in the coming weeks. Mikel Arteta’s side have four games before the end of the year with Everton, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa up next.
The Gunners continue to lead the Premier League and Champions League table with just two defeats in 22 games in all competitions.
However, the race for the league title is heating up with Manchester City winning their last four matches to keep the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the table.
Arteta will be hoping his side can continue to rack up wins heading into the new year while also lining up a few signings to boost the team’s chances of winning silverware in 2026.
Here, Mirror football has all the latest news from North London.
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Arteta targets Madrid duo
During the summer transfer window, Arsenal were reportedly considering a potential bid for Brazilian striker Rodrygo. The Gunners were constantly linked with the Real Madrid star throughout the summer, but he ultimately remained in Spain for the 2025/26 season.
A fee of £78million would likely be required to lure the striker away from the Bernabeu, with Liverpool also interested in signing the 24-year-old. But Rodrygo Arsenal aren’t the only ones interested in a signing from Real Madrid – with new reports claiming they also want Victor Valdepenas.
According to ESPN Deportes, the 19-year-old defender is an Arsenal target with Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen also said to be interested.
However, Madrid boss Xabi Alonso may be keen to keep the star in his ranks after praising the youngster following his debut against Alaves.
Despite an error that led to Alavés’ equalizer, Alonso said: “We recognized the only time Valdepeñas made a mistake, because in all the others he was very precise and played very well.
“But then the team kept getting up and fighting, fighting hard in a tough stadium against a very intense opponent.
“We scored that second goal which gave us the three points and we leave here happy.”
Pep Guardiola’s latest title warning
Pep Guardiola has issued a fresh warning to Arsenal, saying his young City stars have the ability to become club legends. After a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, the Spaniard believes his side will only improve from here and have the ability to go all the way.
He said: “We are improving, new players have come in and adapted a lot of things. My only dream as a manager is to be ourselves all the time.
“Pretend we were working and talking and doing and that I think is why we had Vincent, we had Kyle. All the players who have been legends at this club had composure. I felt like we were improving and that’s what we want to feel.
“Today it was 0-3, but against Sunderland we won 3-0 and we were good against Sunderland for 95 minutes. I can’t expect Palace not to have chances or for us to lose the ball in transitions because they won the FA Cup.
“But our approach, our aggressiveness, it made me very happy. Of course we are very happy because I know how tough they are. To go 0-3 here is a great statement for us.”
Highlighting his team’s resilience in previous title runs, Guardiola added: “From experience where you win in the past, you believe that the past is always perfect – shiny red carpets.
“When we won 100 points and all the titles, we had a lot of games like this and resilience was part of that. This will help us build something. We are in a better position than last season, we are close and that is what we are here to do.”
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