Mikel Arteta said Arsenal sent out "a strong message" by signing Declan Rice back in 2023, while the Gunners boss felt David Raya's arrival helped take them to "the next level".

Arsenal are fresh from claiming their first Premier League title since Arsene Wenger's Invincibles of 2003-04, after finishing seven points clear of Manchester City.

The Gunners, who had been runners-up in each of the three previous seasons, finally went the extra step and got their hands on the trophy for a fourth time.

Rice played a key role in Arsenal's triumph, three years after his club-record £100m move from West Ham.

Since then, the all-action England international has led his fellow Gunners midfielders for interceptions (106), passes (5,839), recoveries (514), touches (7,514) and carries (1,717) in the English top flight.

"It was a big moment," Arteta told The Overlap, recalling the signing of Rice. "We were constantly sending messages, whether we want him or not.

"To the people in the organisation, to the supporters, to our opponents, that was a strong message.

"[It said] we are here to go to another level. We are on another level financially, we are on another level with the ambition of the players we recruited, the profile of the players.

"A big club needs to make that sort of statement."

Arteta also spoke about the signing of Raya, who initially arrived on loan from Brentford before making his move permanent, displacing Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal's number one.

The decision was justified, with the Spaniard winning the Golden Glove award in each of the last three seasons.

Although, the Gunners head coach conceded the transfer itself was "difficult to explain".

"That's a good example of what a manager needs," Arteta said. "I was very convinced that we had to make a change.

"Not because Aaron didn't have the quality, but because I believed to go to the next level, we needed a different profile of goalkeeper.

"It was very difficult to explain, difficult to explain upstairs, externally. It could maybe not make sense. That's when you need a sporting director, in this case, Edu, to say, 'Mikel, are you 100% sure?'

"I went through it with him again and again. 'You know you're going to have an issue'. I know. 'Mikel, you're going to expose yourself'. I know. 'You really want to do this?' Yes, please do.

"Edu really convinced the board because they needed to be convinced and to understand. It's not, 'Mikel says this, okay, let's do it.' It doesn't work like this.

"I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not, but [I knew] David was going to present himself and dedicate himself to the cause, and he was going to be an incredible ambassador for the club. I was sure."

Arsenal have the chance to complete a Premier League and Champions League double when they face reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the latter competition on Saturday.

Only Liverpool (in both 1976-77 and 1983-84), Manchester United (in 1998-99 and 2007-08) and Manchester City (in 2022-23) have previously won the First Division/Premier League and European Cup/Champions League in the same season.