Arsenal's embarrassing summer leaves them too blind to see they are weaker now than this time last season

The club has Grand Canyon-sized cracks running through it from the owners to the manager and the transfer policy, yet nothing is being done to address any of it

Alexis Sanchez remains at Arsenal, but the club have much bigger problems on their hands (Getty)

Whether holding on to Alexis Sanchez was good or bad for Arsenal and their season ahead, there’s no doubting that this summer has been a bit of an embarrassment for the club.

For the first time under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal finished outside of the top four last season and face at least a season away from the Champions League, with the likes of Crvena Zvezda, BATE Borisov, and FC Köln on the menu for the Gunners rather than the usual likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

No matter what the final figure is, you can guarantee that Arsenal vs Crvena Zvezda at the Emirates Stadium will be far from a sell-out, and to avoid risking another season of fan protests, backlashes and public signs of frustration from those inside and out of the stadium, the club needed to get their house in order during the summer.

As the clock ticked towards Thursday’s 11pm deadline, fans were teased with the offer of a £92m move for Thomas Lemar, though those hopes were dashed as soon as they surfaced. However, not even a new club-record transfer could gloss over the Grand Canyon-sized cracks at Arsenal, and the most embarrassing bit about this whole saga is that they emerge from the first transfer window since finishing fifth with a weaker squad than they went into it.

The arrivals of Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac help with two areas that did need attention. Arsenal’s struggles in front of goal have been well documented since Robin van Persie left the club in 2012, and while Olivier Giroud deserves praise for valiantly fighting on for his place, he is not the answer. Kolasinac has shown signs that he will be a good signing – particularly given the free transfer – though he still has rough edges that need smoothing over.

Yet why is it that two players that were deemed improvements to the first team left out of the side that suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Liverpool last weekend? Wenger’s defence was that they are still learning and need time to develop, though this is time that Arsenal do not have. Manchester United signed three players in the summer, two of which were designed to directly improve the first team, while Chelsea have done the same with Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger and they are all featuring in the side from the get-go.

Then there’s the squad depth. Are Arsenal in a better position now than 12 months ago? Four first-team members have left the club this summer, with a further two out on loan, while the ridiculously poorly treated Joel Campbell heads to Real Betis on his sixth loan since joining the club. Wenger was right in his estimations that players needed to leave a swelling squad, but Arsenal do not look any stronger than they did three months ago when the transfer window opened.


 Arsenal have multiple problems yet have not addressed a single one (Getty)
 (AFP/Getty Images)

The one positive is that Jack Wilshere remained at the club. It’s true that he has fallen well short of what was expected of him, but with Santo Cazorla still a long-term absentee and the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka never far away from an injury or red card respectively, depth is needed in central midfield. That makes the decision to let Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leave for Liverpool slightly risky, given he wanted to be played in midfield, although when a player enters the final 12 months of his contract and £40m arrives at your doorstep, anyone would find it hard to say no.

The problem is that the cracks run through every part of the club. The owners are distant and disliked, the management outdated and showing no signs of change that was promised when his last contract was signed, the transfer policy is remarkably poor with money wasted on players who have proven not good enough for a top four side and the result if abstract performances like the one seen last weekend. Arsenal’s issues lie deep, and after failing to address any of them this summer, you can’t help but fear what is on the cards for the club this season.