Report: Arsenal will back Arteta next season even if they miss out on top four

Reports coming from Arsenal claim that the club's hierarchy are going to back Mikel Arteta in the summer regardless of how the season ends.

Stan Kroenke's faith in Arteta appears to be absolute as it is understood that the club's latest capitulation under his watch is not going to change the plans to hand Arteta a war chest from the upcoming summer window.

Earlier in the season, it was reported that the Arsenal owners were going to give Arteta and Edu Gaspar, Arsenal's sporting director, an injection of funds worth €180 million at the least to their transfer budget. Though there was no condition attached to the injection of funds, it was understood that Arteta needed to take the team back to Europe to speed things up.

The club also got Arteta to sign a contract extension in April to keep the Spaniard at the club until 2025. Now, they have reassured him of their backing for whoever he identifies as necessary to his goals next season.

This report is according to The Telegraph, who also noted that a failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League would affect their chances in the summer transfer window.

Arsenal were fourth and four points ahead of their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur until two games ago. Tottenham smashed them 3-0 in the last North London derby of the season to reduce the gap to one point.

Arsenal had the opportunity to maintain that lead when they travelled to St James' Park to take on Newcastle United as Spurs had already won 1-0 at home to Burnley to go two points clear and knock Arsenal down to fifth.

Arsenal loss to Newcastle could spell disaster at the Emirates, claims journalist

The Gunners could not even muster much of a challenge as they fell 2-0 to Newcastle, all but ending their top four hopes. They now have one match to go but with Spurs having Norwich City in their own last fixture, it is unlikely that Arsenal make the top four.

Journalist Martin Samuel, writing in his column for Mail Sport, believes that Newcastle could use their money to raid Arsenal having shown the current crop of players that they have a stronger project.

It is important to note that Eddie Howe and Newcastle turned their season around after losing to Arsenal in the first leg of their fixture. The Magpies have gone on to become the most in form team in Europe since then.

They are currently planning a massive rebuild and they have the money to do so. Samuel believes Newcastle could target Arsenal, just like Manchester City did when they got taken over in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour and his group.

Samuels wrote: "The capitulation at Tottenham was bad enough, but for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, what occurred at St James’ Park should be truly terrifying.

"Ultimately, Arsenal became facilitators as Manchester City were relaunched with Sheik Mansour’s wealth. Arsene Wenger stopped resisting the inevitable and lost Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Adebayor to them in quick succession.

"And now Newcastle. A young Arsenal player, Joe Willock, joined them in the Mike Ashley era, but clearly wasn’t wanted by Arteta. Yet Willock will still have many friends among the players who are said to be Arsenal’s future.

"He is in a position to give his new club positive reviews, to tell them how much has changed there, what plans are being laid. It is not unthinkable that Newcastle try to raid Arsenal the way City once did.

"And even if they do not, they might be competing for the same targets. Newcastle are genuine rivals now. They have the money, they can pay the wages, and this is a project with a clear long-term goal."

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