Welcome.
I don't think Arteta left us high and dry.
We still have quite a midfield, even though we've now lost Pienaar and Arteta. If we look at the players still available for the first team, we're in pretty good shape:
Osman
Fellaini
Bilyaletdinov
Neville
Heitinga
Coleman
Barkley
Cahill
Rodwell
Drenthe
Folk forget that not too long ago, we had one of the best midfields in the game, so we'll be ok.
The money is welcome, and it gives someone else a go. We'll need to add to it as time goes by, but I think Arteta dominated our style of play too much. We would play in a certain style, regardless of what style on which afternoon it was, but the minute Arteta came on, it would always change, and not always for the best. He would take charge, and that's not a bad thing, but sometimes we lost momentum. Arteta would work best with lots of movement. I think had he gone to United, he would have thrived.