It is almost impossible to effectively challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League if huge amounts of money are not spent on new players, not even Tottenham are close to them and they are being held up as some sort of standard-bearer of a club that can be competitive when spending so little in the transfer market.
Last season Liverpool finished a massive 25 points behind Manchester City and so they went out and bought Virgil van Dijk in the previous January transfer window for £75 Million, then at the end of the season they spend a further £13.5 Million on Xherdan Shaqiri, £39 million on Fabinho, £52.75 million on Naby Keita, although technically he was bought the year before and loaned back to Leipzig for a year and £66.8 million on Alisson.
That is a grand total of £247 Million on players that made their debuts for the club in 2018, a cool quarter of a billion.
They are now in the Champions League semi-finals and competing with City for the Premier League title.
Of course, it does not always work like that, Man United have spent fortunes but if you have the right manager and he spends big money wisely then the results will follow on the field, Liverpool had the right manager and so do we, but the huge difference is that Klopp can spend massively, Emery cannot.
If that continues then you have to worry that Emery will start to have second thoughts about staying with us, it is not as if he is overseeing a new stadium being built with a promise of funds to come in the future, no, he has to know that how it is now is how it is likely to stay for a few years yet.
Managers are just as ambitious as players and the Europa League and minor domestic trophies will not be enough to satisfy any ambitious manager, why do you think that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is constantly linked with other clubs no matter how well he is doing with them?
If no major silverware or the prospect of no silverware becomes the norm then it cannot be a surprise to anyone if a manager leaves in pursuit of that elusive silverware.
We are probably not at a point yet when Emery will start to become frustrated but if he is not backed properly in the next couple of transfer windows and we finish next season no better than this season then watch the links to other clubs start to gain momentum.
I know we could win the Europa League this season and if we do then Emery’s ambitions may be served but it simply is not sustainable to deny a manager significant funds on a regular basis and expect him to make the club realistic challengers of the two major trophies that matter in club football, the Premier League and the Champions League.