After Sunday’s loss to Chelsea, it all feels like Déjà vu for Arsenal when it comes to slow beginnings, and yesterday’s result marked the single worst start to a season, with it being the first ever time in their history they have lost their opening two games without scoring.
When it comes around to the end of a season, many fans will point to slow starts and a feeling that the team are always playing catch up with the rest of their rivals. But one factor which almost always also comes into question behind these slow starts is a lack of spending from the board or leaving spending to the last minute.
This year however, very little can be said on that front, with the Gunners currently, at the time of writing, the highest spenders in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta has been heavily backed with a massive transfer kitty, but it almost feels like very little progress has been made in improving the team both on paper and on the pitch.
Not only are Arsenal sitting in the relegation zone, even if it is just two games in, but performances have also been poor, to say the least and the strongest lineup looks very familiar to what it was at the end of last season.
In years gone by, it has been said that Arsenal might be two maybe three signings away from the title, or at least challenging for the title. A top-quality centre forward or goalkeeper and in most cases higher quality defenders were generally what were missing. Unfortunately the Kroenke’s would rarely show backing of the manager financially and fans would be left frustrated knowing how close the team could have been if one or two signings were made.
Flash forward to now and Arsenal are quite the distance from the top four, let alone the pinnacle of the table. However, not only looking at this summer but at all transfer activity during Arteta’s reign, it can be said that there is no doubt that he has the full trust of the ownership, spending over £200m since he took charge in December 2019 and yet despite the FA Cup win in August of last year, the team has most certainly gone backwards. If the finances are there to be spent and things aren’t improving, then surely the blame must come down to recruitment choices from the likes of Edu and Arteta.
The £129m spent this summer doesn’t feel like it hasn’t even by the slightest addressed the many areas which need improving throughout the team. Out of the five signings this summer, arguably only two of them will be regular starters once there is a fully fit squad. Yet signings among the starting lineup are still needed at the likes of right back, midfield and in attack.
So even with so much spent, the money has arguably not been distributed in equal measure with critics raising questions over how much is being spent on players on an individual basis when there are so many positions to target.
Although this summer has seen a much better policy in recruiting younger profile players, which will work in the club’s favour in years to come, the older players on high wages who are not even making the matchday squad with few clubs looking to take them from Arsenal are continuing to hinder the clubs progress. While they are still employed by the Gunners, the clubs funds can only stretch so far in covering the saturated wage bill and the lack of profit made on these type of players.
Along with the younger players bought in this summer and the sheer young talent, the Gunners are building a decent team for the future, but the problem is they and Arteta need results now, not later.
Despite the lack of murmurs, there is still time to make some signings, should outgoings go through, which could ultimately kickstart Arsenal’s season and save Arteta’s job, but even if they are what is needed, it could be a case of being left unprepared yet again going into a season and left chasing the pack, despite the fact that this time a significant amount of money has already been spent.
Whatever happens in the next few days, weeks and months in Arsenal’s season, serious questions need to be asked over recruitment or else this project which is so often spoken about, will never take flight.