Arsenal: Mikel Arteta issues fresh stance on Myles Lewis-Skelly transfer exit

However, in an attempt to put the transfer rumours to bed once and for all, Arteta was firm when asked if Lewis-Skelly will be at the club beyond the end of the transfer window.Arteta also emphasised how important it was for the club to ensure Hale End graduates had a place in the first-team squad."The players that have been raised in our system and they feel the love and the connection with the club bring something else,” the Gunners boss revealed during Friday’s pre-Coventry press conference.“We need to look after them in a really special way. When we can, we want to protect those assets as much as possible.“Develop them and make them very important to the club."While the club want to keep Lewis-Skelly, and the player has no desire to leave this summer, attempts to sell Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus are ongoing.Arsenal’s record sale is still only £35million, the fee they received from Liverpool for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain almost a decade ago.Despite that, Arteta insisted Arsenal do not have an issue as a selling club.“Not bad or good, it’s what you have in relation to the options you have to sell,” Arteta said.“Maybe we would have been extraordinary depending on the level of players that we have, the ability, their contracts, and the will to go.“A possible issue you can face is that maybe you want to make certain decisions with certain players but they are that happy that they want to stay as well.”Read MoreOn whether Arsenal had to sell before recruiting further this summer, Arteta added: “Depends on the sporting success as well.“There isn’t a club in Europe that has had the growth that Arsenal have had in terms of the value, the performances, the revenues. That’s something very big.“Some other clubs, maybe they need to sell. I think we have taken an approach that has increased the level and the capacity of the club big time.”