London, Sep 13 (IANS): Although Arsenal may have had different plans for the transfer window which linked a number of forwards to North London, they settled on an unwanted Raheem Sterling for a season long loan. Mikel Arteta believes the Englishman will improve his side as he has the hunger to prove himself.

“What I see is hunger and a player that wants to play every minute of every game. When it’s not the case, he’s not happy. He loves football, it’s what he likes doing every single day and I see that,” said Mikel Arteta in a press conference.

Raheem Sterling’s deadline day move to Arsenal was a great solution for all parties involved. The English forward will get game time, something he would not have received at Chelsea, Arsenal were able to increase their squad depth and Chelsea offloaded some much needed wages off their books.

“His commitment, the level of energy that he’s bringing to the team and the quality is a big push. You can feel it with the players as well. When he’s walking through the door, we are better with him and he’s going to make us better,” he added.

Mikel worked closely with Raheem from 2016 to 2019, when he was an assistant coach at Manchester City. Sterling was in fine form during those years, particularly in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, when he totalled 48 goals and 27 assists in 97 appearances in all competitions.

“Obviously in his personal life a lot of things have changed since we were together,” Mikel explained. “The first call I had with him, I knew straight away after 10 seconds, we have to bring him because he really wanted it, you know. And that was my only question mark, what stage is he at in his career, but I knew already after 10 seconds. Bring him here,” he concluded.