Arsenal: Yes, but how many additions Arsene?

Arsene Wenger has stated that Arsenal can compete next year with the right additions. He is correct, to an extent, but how many additions are required?

The loss to Atletico Madrid was damning. Sadness and dejection is the most prominent feeling around Arsenal currently, stark in the knowledge that Arsene Wenger will not be given the romantic goodbye that many were so hoping for him.

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The loss gives an immediate end to the season, even with three games remaining in the Premier League campaign. There is now nothing for the club to play for and the final matches will merely be an ode to one of the greatest managers in the history of the sport.

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That allows everyone to turn their attentions to the future, to the post-Wenger era. It is a strange and unpredictable time. I was two the last time that Arsenal did not have Wenger as their manager. No one really knows what’s going to happen. Not with the manager’s position, not with the board and the ownership, not with the players or the potential recruits or with Wenger himself. But Wenger does protest that this collection of players has quality, stating that they will compete next season with the right additions:

"“But, for the club, [there is] now some time to think about what to do for next season. I think there are some good ingredients in our team and they will bounce back. These players, they have quality. With the right additions in the summer, the team will compete next year.”"

To an extent, Wenger isn’t wrong. If the north London outfit proceeded to add 20 new, world-class players to the squad, then I too would expect them to compete. But, obviously, that’s not going to happen.

Wenger doesn’t say how many, or what position, or what players that need to be replaced, or for how what price. And that is the problem with this squad. Everybody knows that it needs some significant investment in the summer window. But the issue is the extent of that investment, an extent that the board and ownership are unlikely to stretch to.

There are so many positions that need addressing. Wide midfield, defensive midfield, full-back, centre-half, and goalkeeper are all positions that are in desperate need of some serious investment.

Next: Arsenal Vs Atletico Madrid: 5 things we learned

If the Gunners were to go on a £400 million spending spree, then, yes, I agree with Wenger, they can compete. But they’re not going to, and that is the crux of the issue.