The Arsenal FC rebuild is going to take some time, but it does appear to be moving in the right direction under manager Mikel Arteta. Securing a win over Liverpool in midweek, the Gunners victory made sure that Pep Guardiola’s 2017-18 Manchester City side would retain the all-time Premier League points record.
So in getting the big W this week, Arteta did two things- showed Gooners a sign of what might be to come and provided a favor to his former boss. However, currently three points out of Europa League qualification, and out of the running for a Champions League slot, there is a lot of work to be done.
As their ninth place position in the table conveys, they are going to need reinforcements in the summer transfer window. Unfortunately, it’s been conventional wisdom for some time that Arteta won’t be getting much of a war chest to work with this transfer window.
Arteta was asked about it in an interview with Sky Sports, and he didn’t hold back when giving his response.
โItโs a big concern,” Arteta said.
“You can see how [Liverpool] build their squad and there is no magic, you need to improve the squad with quality, quality players. And we need a bigger squad to compete in this competition.”
“That is the challenge. Itโs a massive job. You only have to look at the difference between the two teams โ itโs enormous. The gap in many areas we canโt improve it in two months but the gap between the accountability, the energy, the commitment and the fight between the two teams is now equal.”
He’s absolutely right- there’s no magic formula to getting better, outside of just obtaining better players. The rich just keep getting richer in this game, and it’s a reinforcing cycle.
Of course, it didn’t always use to be this way.
“Before it wasnโt like this,” Arteta added.
“Iโm very proud of that. The rest will take some time but at least weโve got that now and my message to the players is with that we can create something.โ
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, whichย is partnered withย News Now.ย Banks, the author ofย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,โ regularly contributes toย WGN TV,ย Sports Illustrated,ย Chicago Nowย andย SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer forย Chicago Tribune.com,ย onย Twitterย and hisย cat on Instagram.
