David Ornstein highlights ‘bigger issue’ than transfers facing Arteta at Arsenal

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Arsenal are suffering their worst run of form in nearly two years right now, having lost their last three games in a row in all competitions.

Mikel Arteta’s side have lost ground in the title race, and are now out of the FA Cup, with their season quickly unravelling in the space of a few weeks.

Arsenal have been linked with several players including Ivan Toney and Joshua Zirkzee to attempt to solve their problems, but they are suffering from financial fair play restraints, meaning that the transfer market is unlikely to provide many solutions.

Arteta’s team are facing issues in attack, with just 20 open-play goals in the league this season, and the FA Cup defeat to Liverpool saw them miss countless chances to score.

Journalist David Ornstein has now claimed that Arsenal’s problems stem beyond their inability to spend in the January transfer window, and Arteta has a bigger issue which may not be solved by simply signing players.

David Ornstein highlights Arteta problem at Arsenal

Ornstein was asked in The Athletic about whether Arsenal would do any business in the January window, and he highlighted that even if The Gunners were able to sign players, this may not necessarily fix their problems in both boxes.

“Arsenal’s financial position dictated that this was expected to be a quiet window and still to this point I am not aware of anything meaningful developing yet,” Ornstein explained.

“Arsenal really need to get their existing players — who are proven to deliver the results the club wants — to rediscover their best form. That seems to be a bigger issue right now than recruitment.”

Arsenal’s issues go beyond the quality within the squad

The same attacking trio of Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were electric last season, helping Arsenal challenge for the title, with team recording their highest-ever Premier League goals tally.

The support players behind them have changed, with Declan Rice replacing the injured Thomas Partey, and Kai Havertz arriving to replace Granit Xhaka.

Whilst Havertz has been an issue when it comes to ball progression from midfield, he cannot be solely blamed for Arsenal’s attacking struggles.

All three of Jesus, Saka and Martinelli are clearly extremely talented players capable of playing at the highest level, and are unstoppable when at their best form.

The fact that all three players look miles off their best level, at the same time as each other, is a concern for Arteta, and it is down to him to find an internal solution.

Arsenal started with three different players at centre-forward in the last three games, and still suffered the same problems in front of goal. At this point, recruitment is unlikely to magically fix these issues, and even if an attacker were to arrive, coming into this team right now is not an easy task for any forward.