Arsenal: Unai Emery does not have a hope in hell

Unai Emery has confirmed that Arsenal cannot afford to sign anyone on a permanent basis this January. The poor man does not have a hope in hell.

Arsenal claim that they want to challenge for Premier League titles. From top to bottom, the organisation has consistently stated that that is their goal. However ambitious and unrealistic it may seem, that is the measuring stick that they have chosen to be judged by. Sad to say, but they’re not doing very well.

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Not only have Arsenal not mounted a serious challenge since the 2013/14 season, and even then it petered out rather suddenly thanks to an Aaron Ramsey injury, but they haven’t been close to winning the title in April or May since they last won it, that being 15 years ago.

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There are many reasons for their decline — it would take far more than just one article to delve into such a depressingly lavish topic. But perhaps the biggest has been the inability — or unwillingness, depending on your reading of the situation — to invest heavily in the squad, which has become increasingly apparent in the era of Manchester City.

And now, the resource inequality of the Premier League is set to continue. Unai Emery, when asked about potential signings in the January transfer market in his pre-match press conference prior to Saturday’s match against West Ham United, admitted that there is no money to sign any players on a permanent basis, only on a loan:

"“We cannot sign permanently. Only loan players. I can say to you that the club is working, the club is telling me the different situations in each moment. At the moment, we haven’t had any news today about that [signings].”"

Yes. This is a club that claims it wants to win the league.

In all of this, the man I feel most sorry for is Emery. Now, there is an element of impatience to the somewhat vociferous response of many Arsenal fans. But I am sure that Emery would have been hoping for some greater investment in a squad that is woefully short of top-tier quality. He will have to wait two or three years to properly re-haul this squad.

But fans do not wait two or three years. Fans do not have the patience for two or three years, even if the club has stated that the process they are implementing will take that long. I can guarantee that if Arsenal suffer a poor run of form next season, some truly idiotic fans will call for Emery’s sacking.

The one thing that Emery requires more than anything else is time. And if the Gunners only have the finances to sign loan players in his second window at the club, then he may well need more time than many, myself included, realised prior to his arrival. The one thing he probably won’t be given, at least by the fans? Time.

Unfortunately, I can see where this is heading: Arsenal don’t spend enough to compete, they show some progress but then their form depreciates. And then the calls for change begin. In the middle of it all is Unai Emery. He doesn’t have a hope in hell.