Mikel Arteta insists he does not fear another Arsenal exodus as a result of Newcastle’s new-found wealth.
The two clubs go head-to-head in the Premier League on Saturday with the Magpies now under the ownership of Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium, which has ambitious plans for the future.
However, Arteta is confident there will be no repeat of the raids Manchester City made on the club after a huge injection of cash from Abu Dhabi earlier this century which saw Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri all swap north London for the blue half of Manchester in exchange for a total of £72million (€82 million).
Asked if he was worried, he replied: “No. I think players should stay at football clubs when they feel that they belong somewhere, when they feel important to it, when they feel valued in every single aspect and when that’s the case, normally players want to stay.
“When players start to decide something else, it’s because they need something different in their futures, and that happens with any club that has financial power to convince anybody, or has other capacities.
“Sometimes it’s not the financial power, sometimes it’s sporting reasons, sometimes family reasons, sometimes it’s a problem of adaptation. There are many different cases.”
The Magpies, who are yet to win a game this season, head for the Emirates Stadium with speculation mounting over what they may do in January in an attempt to stave off relegation from the top flight for the third time in 14 seasons.
One of the men with whom they have been linked is Arsenal’s out-of-favour £72million winger Nicolas Pepe, although Arteta suggested any pursuit could be in vain.
Asked what the message on Pepe would be, he replied: “That we are interested in Nico performing at the level that he can do.
“He has had some really good moments since I have been here, some moments where he hasn’t participated that much.
“Like everybody else, it’s part of football, and it’s part of the world you usually have at any football team.”
Asked further if there would be any thought of entertaining offers in January he added: “No – and it’s not the moment to talk about that either.”
Arteta has no fresh selection problems for the weekend as his side looks to bounce back from a 4-0 mauling at Liverpool last weekend with a 10th successive home league win over Newcastle.
