Arsenal are back in the Champions League, have been for two seasons, and besides a monumental drop-off, will again be in the lucrative European competition next season. The financial benefit that the tournament has brought Arsenal gave a welcome boost to reduce the losses in the recent financial results.
With it, comes a reality that will provide an answer that Arsenal fans have needed clarity on for some time. Since 2018, Kroenke Sports Entertainment (KSE) and its owner Stan Kroenke have held full control of the club.
Buying out shareholders and after 11 years of partial ownership, they secured 100% of the club’s shares. In the six years that have followed, the club have invested more than £700million and returned not just to the elite European tournament but back into the fold for the title for the first time in roughly two decades.
With a third successive title race faltering, this time much earlier than in the previous couple of years, it is evident to everyone the main reason for the failure to meet the season’s main aims. Injuries have ravaged the squad, particularly in the forward line.
Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are out for the season while Gabriel Martinelli has been missing for almost the entire last month, while Bukayo Saka has been out since early December and is expected to be back some time in late March or early April. The club knew the risks in January with Jesus injured a third of the way through the winter market’s opening and Saka of course already absent and prognosis known.
However, they failed to act, not bringing in a single player in any position – let alone in the forward line; this occurring despite very public calls from Mikel Arteta and even some of his players like Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice about the need for reinforcement. The club have failed to score in their last two games with makeshift forward Mikel Merino being forced into an unorthodox role.
Nuno Espirito Santo even abandoned his usual back five approach in favour of a back four and an additional midfielder, citing the lack of an Arsenal centre-forward to TNT Sports after the game for spurring the change. A need for a top striker has been clear not just in 2025 but last year, the year before and so on.
The difference this year is that the tether has reached its end for fans and the summer window must deliver that so-sought-after centre-forward. Be it an established figure like Alexander Isak or a player Arteta deems to have the long-term potential of becoming such a player like Benjamin Sesko, for example.
Stan Kroenke may not say much but his actions this forthcoming summer will reveal everything that supporters need to know when it comes to his desires for the club. Another underwhelming window, not just up top, but in all areas, will send a very clear message to supporters.
Energy has, in my view, been wrongly directed toward Mikel Arteta for much of the campaign, and he has shielded those behind him who are worthy of much more scrutiny. Arsenal are more likely to go backward than forwards by changing manager, but the reality is Arteta’s abilities are limited by the tools at his disposal.
Records have fallen, title challenges have returned and a renewed hope has arrived again at Arsenal under his tenure despite not having the silverware that this squad and its output deserves. The binary viewing of the game looks down on Arteta, but it is those behind him where the energy needs to be far more than the guy doing everything to maximise what he has.
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