Arsenal’s season has ended in disappointment after being knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 at the Parc des Princes, securing their progression to the final in Munich at the Gunners’ expense.
Martin Keown believes Arsenal were tactically perfect in the second leg against the Parisians, but this hasn’t prevented the inevitable inquest into where things went wrong for the North Londoners this campaign.
While injuries and suspensions have undoubtedly hampered Mikel Arteta’s team, question marks have to be raised about the approach to last summer’s transfer window.
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Ian Wright questions Arsenal signing Riccardo Calafiori
Just about falling short in the league last season, and not quite having the offensive firepower to overcome Bayern Munich in the Champions League, it was clear that Arsenal needed an injection of attacking talent last summer.
Instead, Arteta opted to sign Riccardo Calafiori for £42 million and Mikel Merino for £27 million, with Raheem Sterling the only forward arrival.
While Arsenal have been as solid as ever defensively, they’ve evidently lacked the quality in the final third to lead them to silverware.
Speaking on the Wrighty’s House podcast, Gunners legend Ian Wright questioned whether the investment in Calafiori was the right move at the time.
“Obviously Calafiori’s been out for quite a long time since he’s been here,” he said.
“People will look at it and say ‘that’s been a bit of a nightmare for us’ simply because we did get [Takehiro] Tomiyasu from Bologna and he’s had problems with injuries, we’ve got Calafiori from Bologna and he’s having problems with injuries.
“So you think to yourself, was that the [transfer] priority then?”
Calafiori has managed just 11 Premier League starts this season, suffering from five separate injury issues throughout the campaign.
If he’d been fit and firing, the sentiment around the Italian’s transfer may have been different, but he’s hardly featured, and the opportunity cost of his signing is now subsequently a talking point.
Arsenal should have bolstered their attack last summer
Signing a left-back was certainly a need for Arsenal last summer, with Tomiyasu suffering from injury issues, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney out of favour, and Myles Lewis-Skelly undiscovered.
However, the Gunners also needed to strengthen their attack, and they failed to do so.
Kai Havertz was overburdened when he was fit, and the German clearly needed cover and competition.
Meanwhile, neither Leandro Trossard nor Gabriel Martinelli has performed well enough this season, and this was predictable before the campaign kicked off.
Resources should have been allocated to an elite attacking player, with this potentially making a major impact on Arsenal’s season.
The Emirates hierarchy does have an opportunity to redeem themselves this summer.
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