Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta makes "obvious" transfer assessment ahead of summer window

Mikel Arteta declares it is "obvious" Arsenal will need to fork out in the summer transfer window after their underwhelming business in January.

The Gunners only made one first-team signing last month, buying American defender Auston Trusty and immediately loaning him back to MLS club Colorado Rapids.

The bulk of their business revolved around offloading fringe players, with Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers departing for Marseille and Aston Villa respectively.

The most high-profile exit was that of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who joined Barcelona having been stripped of the captaincy and exiled by Arteta.

Elsewhere, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Folarin Balogun and Pablo Mari departed on loan.

This leaves Arteta with a mere 18 outfield players with Premier League experience at his disposal for the run-in, during which Arsenal are aiming to mount a charge for Champions League qualification.

The need for new faces at the Emirates will only grow at the end of the season, when Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah and Mohamed Elneny's contracts are due to expire. None of the trio are expected to pen new deals to extend their stay in North London.

Arteta acknowledges Arsenal will need to recruit numerous players in the summer to bolster his small squad and said he is planning to hold talks with technical director Edu to begin planning.

"We are going to have some contracts that are ending [in the summer] and we are going to have to make a decision regarding where we are and we have the option to do that," the Spaniard said.

"We have players on loan that we are developing as well to understand where they can be and how much of a contribution they can have in the squad and obviously we are going to have to sign players in the