Mikel Arteta eyeing Dries Mertens as his first Arsenal signing?

The newly-appointed head coach is likely to bring in a few reinforcements to the squad in the transfer window.

Arsenal look to add to their squad this January and have joined the race to obtain Dries Mertens' signature. Mertens is expected to be available for around £8.5m as it seems highly unlikely that he would be receiving a new contract at Napoli. Moreover, the Italian club is willing to listen to offers and ship him off before his contract comes to an end, as per Express. They however face competition from German sides Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich as reported by II Mattino. Mikel Arteta would look to put pen to paper and obtain the striker’s signature and further strengthen the squad. [KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] The Gunners went on a big spending spree at the start of the season with the hopes of overcoming a run of poor performances over the past few seasons. With Arsenal club record signing Nicolas Pepe failing to live up to the expectations so far, Mikel Arteta looks to convince the board and strike a deal to land in Dries Mertens. Dries Mertens, 32, has scored nine goals for Napoli this season, five goals in the Champions League and four in Serie A and seems to be playing his last season for the club. The Gunners have had a very poor season so far and are currently eleventh in the table, their worst ever start to the campaign. Among the two managerial changes, captain outbursts and under-performing star players, Arsenal look to have put their faith in former midfielder Mikel Arteta. Arteta will take up his role as head coach for the first time in his career at Arsenal, to revive their hopes of making a comeback in the latter half of the season. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | Article Continues Below"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] The Spaniard who spent three years as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City is set to steady the ship at his former club and is keen on “changing the energy” at the club which he feel has been missing. Moments after Arteta's appointment, Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil took to social media to welcome the new head coach. Ozil's season has been very disappointing after falling out of favour with former manager Unai Emery. Interestingly, Arteta, who has previously played with Ozil during one of his best seasons at Arsenal, states that it's his job to get the best out of the German international.