Arsenal have outspend their Premier League rivals at this point in time, but how much have they improved their first-team squad?
One would claim that the club has solely invested in players that they believe will be future stars for the club, while the likes of Ben White and Martin Odegaard will be expected to have an immediate impact this season.
While on paper, we appear to be trying to build for a successful future, either by selling on our latest signings for profit or by building a strong team as the players meet their potentials, but should that have been the plan this summer?
We witnessed our club fail to qualify for European football for the first time in 25 years, highlighting our demise in recent seasons, and with the club having given the hierarchy permission to spend on the squad, I can’t help but feel like we should have prioritised this upcoming campaign and a return to Europe.
While Arsenal FC has it’s own pull of being a huge club with a huge following, one of the best stadiums and array of facilities in the world, to attract the top players we also need to be qualifying for Europe at the very least, while returning to being a regular in the Champions League has to be the minimum target for the future which is easier said than done in the PL.
We also need to be able to match something close to our rivals, which isn’t going to happen without a long-term return to Europe’s top competition and to be in contention for the league title on a constant basis.
With all this considered, it appears to me that Arsenal is being run as a business, hence the investment in younger players who all have the scope to increase their values in the coming years, which is why the club has actually sanctioned this summer’s spending in order to bring young players into our first-team squad who can pick up plenty of minutes, while relying on our academy products to bring the star quality that we are missing.
I’d go as far as to say that with all our spending this summer, our first-team starting XI is no better than it was.
We ended the season with a first choice eleven of:
Leno
Chambers Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Partey Xhaka
Saka Odegaard Smith Rowe/Pepe
Aubameyang
The only change to this team that finished the campaign in eighth is that Luiz has been replaced by White, who I’m sorry, has a long way to go before being considered as anything close to the Brazilian despite his errors.
With less football being played because of our lack of European football, this summer should have been about improving our first team, with less fatigue and rotation needed in a much-less congested fixture schedule.
Do you agree that Arsenal has failed to put the right action plan into place? Or am I wrong? Do you believe Lokonga, Ramsdale or White improve our first XI?
Patrick