Failure to strengthen the squad during the summer has led former Gunner Frank McLintock to believe that Arsenal will not finish in the top four this season.
The claim comes after Arsene Wenger’s men slumped to a shocking 3-2 defeat to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, recording Arsenal’s seventh defeat of the season already.
Arsenal now lie twelve points adrift of league leaders Man City, ten behind bitter rivals Spurs and four off Chelsea, who currently occupy fourth place.
Speaking to the Hawksbee and Jacobs Show on talkSPORT, McLintock said Arsenal’s lack of ambition in the transfer market is likely to cost them Champions League football next season:
‘Arsenal always seem to be looking at the profit margins more than it seems other clubs do and I think it has cost us this year.
‘I don’t think we have got a strong enough squad at the moment and I think that has shown up and I think it talks for itself.
‘I think it will be a great challenge for Arsenal to actually finish in the top four because of the squad they have got.
‘Over the last two years the transfers [out] must be about £100million but I think we may have spent about £50m in return. The money seems to be there, it’s very difficult to know if it’s the board holding the money back or Arsene.
‘I think a lot of the supporters feel as though we need a good injection of money in the transfer window. Sometimes people talk about big money but when I think of some of the players that have gone recently like [Scott] Parker, who went to Tottenham, [Jose] Enrique, who is a fabulous left-back and went for about £5m or £6m, [Chris] Samba I think you could have got for £8m, maybe £10m maximum, and [Gary] Cahill the same. It’s not an awful lot of money and those four players would have made an awful difference to our defence for a start.’
Frank goes on to say that it will be a massive challenge for Arsenal to finish in the Champions League qualification spots with the squad they have at present:
‘I think it will be a great challenge for Arsenal to actually finish in the top four because of the squad they have got. I’m really sad to say that because the top four should be the last thing we would be looking for.
‘We should be challenging for the Championship and the Champions League, not talking about getting into the top four. That is a step backwards and I thought we were going to the Emirates Stadium to challenge the Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s.’
The former Gunner probably summed up every Arsenal fans feelings by saying:
‘We all love Arsenal but we are just disappointed and confused with the situation.’
Original source of quotes – http://www.talksport.co.uk/
Sadly, I have to agree with him. With all the major stars that have left the club Wenger never seems to find quality to replace those that have left. Don’t get me wrong, players like Yossi Benayoun (though he’s on loan) Mikel Arteta, Andre Santos and Per Mertesacker are all brilliant players and so was Andrey Arshavin who unfortunately has all but fizzled out. But I think we would have all loved to seen more spent in the past to replace those who have left.
For a club like Arsenal, fighting for a top four spot is not good enough. We deserve to be fighting for the title but our squad won’t allow us to do that, as we usually have 3-5 quality players injured at a go or for long periods.
The Emirates looked to be the start of a new era, but nothing – in terms of trophies – has come out of it.
As for who holds the money back, be it Wenger or the board, I can’t say. But in all honesty I think the board is happier to make all those profits rather than spend millions to aid our success. It doesn’t necessarily have to be done the Man City or Chelsea way, but the way Wenger used to do it when he first arrived.
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strikers are judged on nthe goals they score and so on with the rest of the team.But managers have to bring stability and succes as a minimum,do we have this at Arsenal? so then what is Wengers’s mandate, mybe thats the problem
This is a very correct statement. Arsenal cannot finish among the top four. They havent got what it takes to get there. The problem now will be that big players will not want to come to Arsenal because they wont go anywhere. They will want to join top teams, so you have to be at the top to attract top teams. So it is going to be easier to see players go than receive good new players. Wenger has lost and it may be difficult to get back because you have to be on top or seem to be getting to the top to attract top players.