“For me, Arsenal deserves the best and you have to be fighting for every title. Obviously, after everything that happened, if we are able to win the final and qualify for Europe, we can say it’s OK. But it’s not the level for this football club.
We haven’t been consistent. Because we obviously had a lot of issues as well in the background, a lot of things that had happened. But at the end of the day, we weren’t good enough to be with the top teams. That’s not a lie and it shows the big room for improvement and the gap that is still there and has to be minimized really, really quickly in order to be in a good position to challenge those teams.
It hurts so much, when I said it’s a beautiful challenge. As well as from my side, it’s to bring the club into those positions again. I know how difficult it’s going to be because you can see the other teams; what they’re doing, what they’ve been doing the last few seasons. The road and the direction we have to take in order to be quick in that transition…I’m very positive that we’re going to be able to do it.” – quotes sourced and partially paraphrased from the Independent
There is probably not much more to say, really. With the 2019-20 Premier League campaign officially in the books, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal finished 8th in the table.
It’s hard reading, but there is no necessity for too much doom-and-gloom surrounding a forgettable season. There are plenty of positives to site moving forward despite the Gunners’ failure to close the gap this season.
The FA Cup, though not league or European honors, is a chance to end on a high. If not for the San Sebastián-native replacing Unai Emery, it could have been much worse.
But more importantly, FA Cup triumph at the expense of Frank Lampard’s Chelsea or not, there is much work to be done in London N7.
A need for course-correction
It is a reality understood by the fan-base as well. Calls across all forms of social media outlets speak to the restlessness felt amongst the Gooner faithful; one of when the club will be back amongst the elite in the country. The question is what course will the club set, and it is one of the most-heavily debated subjects amongst us.
At current, the two arguments could not be more different; one, championing the quickest possible turn around, and the other, one targeting the long-term potential of the club.
It has been made clear that Arsenal are not prepared to spend exorbitant amounts of financial capital this summer.
Reinforcements coming into the first-team squad, however, are almost certain to be seen.
Arteta has confirmed that he has the backing and assurances from Raúl Sanllehi, Vinai Venkatesham, and Edu Gaspar regarding the direction the club are taking under the overall stewardship of Josh Kroenke.
The former Arsenal midfielder has also made recent comments suggesting that additional creativity is required.
Whether or not that comes by way of an extension for Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos remains to be seen.
Faith in Emile Smith-Rowe after his impressive loan-spell with Huddersfield Town, or a different option via the market could also be reasonable courses to consider.
Big in name but short on longevity
What Arsenal and Arteta must avoid at all costs, however, is the reliance on bloated mercenary contracts. Risky by nature, they have little-to-no positive impact in the long-term path for this club.
Some have called for Arsenal to examine the validity of a move for Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho.
On paper, it is hard to argue that a player of that ability is beyond a club of Arsenal’s size. But the financial and personnel implications of moves of that nature offer-up more questions than answers.
Despite his on the surface numbers while on loan at Bayern Munich, Coutinho never truly impressed during his time in Bavaria, and certainly never made the cut at the Camp Nou after his performances on Merseyside.
In theory, are signings of this scope beneficial in the immediate short term of the club? Maybe. But ability does not always equate to a player fitting in.
Beyond that, Coutinho’s wage packet is currently roughly equal to Mesut Özil’s much-maligned 350k-per-week.
Yet another bloated contract would be wasted financial resources that could be brought to bear on a more long-term option.
Arsenal must be sensible & prudent
For a club already saddled with wage structure issues, putting an increased burden on our financials is not ideal. The potential to be without European football to call upon next season baring the FA Cup result adds a further speed bump.
Arsenal would risk putting even more undue pressure on Arteta and the board to deliver on a season that is by no means guaranteed to end how we hope it would.
Piling on increased strain on the books, coupled with a failure to deliver Europe next season, could see the club sucked into a maelstrom that others have failed to negotiate.
This is a club with a massive name both domestically and globally. The current reality for Arsenal is that the club is behind its closest rivals. To make matters worse, clubs such as Wolves and Leicester City are proving to be prudent in negotiating the market.
If Arsenal is to propel itself back into the fold, then surely, the long-term picture must be the absolute priority.
A free deal targeting State Rennais’ former center-back Malang Sarr should be viewed as a no-brainer. A young player like RB Salzburg’s Dominik Szoboszlai would signal modern and progressive business as well.
The club must also do what it takes to nurture the progression of its own. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and the aforementioned Smith-Rowe all have the tools to be key for Arsenal both in the immediate future and further down the line.
We are not where we want to be; that much is clear. The immediate goal must be the targeted and subsequent laying of groundwork necessary for progression.
Our future depends upon it.
You are right , Arsenal do not need signing like Willian or older players. We need to build for the future, expect inconsistent but it will pay off.with younger players.
It’ll be very difficult to close the gap without financial backing from the ownership team; at least one upfront to allow Arteta to accelerate a rebuild. We don’t have the personnel to sell off a piece for an exhorbitant fee like Klopp had with Coutinho and the market isn’t the same as it was then either.
I completely agree that the reality is that we have to be smarter in the transfer market and be smarter in the wage provisions. If we’re going to make a concerted effort to challenge for top 4 next season, we need to buy/sign players that can either hit the ground running in Arteta’s preferred style/system and/or ones that can be further developed and sold on for a much higher fee.
Let’s hope the hierarchy (and Arteta) can identify some undervalued players in the summer window that profile similar to guys we’ve recently bought like Martinelli, Tierney and Saliba.
Well put.
I feel we’ve got a few players who we can cash in on this summer. That will help us balancing the books.
Emile Smith-Rowe is definitely a player who promises creativity from the middle. Something we’re crying out for.
I hope we see him play a vital role in the years to come.
Agreed! And thank you for reading 🙂
Fantastic read Drew. I am a bit more optimistic than you and believe we are a DM and a CB away from competing for third. It’s that simple for the short term. I don’t want “on the job training” for too many youngsters next season in those positions. I agree wholeheartedly with most everything else you said though. It will take a few years to catch LP and MC and we have to be wise.
Fair points, Glenn! I do think that we aren’t terribly far away from actually finishing third or fourth. A DM of the talent bracket of Thomas Partey would do wonders for us, and so too would a CB coming in, apart from Saliba (who I think the fan base put far too much pressure on already). But overall, truly challenging for the league is a much harder issue to tackle, and we’re well off from that mark. I don’t think too many youngsters would work, of course, though I also believe that a player can be young but still be incredibly good and ready to help push a club forward. Time will tell on all, of course. Thank you for reading and for your support 🙂
Great article, Drew. Love that you focused your attention on pre and early prime players. If we’re going to do this rebuild right, we can’t fall into the trap of short-termism out of desperation to stop the bleeding. We have to get these next windows right and that means prioritizing positions of need that you’ve outlined and filling them with players that Arteta can groom, grow and help us get back to our rightful place in time.
Looking forward to future articles. Cheers!
Great article Drew, couldn’t agree more on Coutinho.