Arsenal: Aaron Wan-Bissaka and what Unai Emery is up against

Manchester United are chasing Aaron Wan-Bissaka in a £55 million deal. He costs more than Arsenal’s whole budget. This is what Unai Emery is dealing with.

According to the Premier League table, Arsenal were the fifth-best team in the Premier League last season. That is probably an accurate reflection of the standard of their performances relative those around them.

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But if you were to simply look at the squads of the top-six teams, you would see a very different — and bleaker — picture. Reading down the names tells the whole story: this Gunners squad is substantially worse than any other in the top six, including Manchester United’s, which finished below them in sixth.

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That disparity will only increase this summer. Man. Utd will unquestionably splash the cash. Whether it will be smartly spent is another question, but they will plough £150-plus million into the squad this summer. Arsenal, on the other hand, will do well to spend more than £50 million without a couple of major sales to raise funds. The gaping chasm is evident, and this is to the next-worst team in the top six.

This painfully miserable state is perfectly illustrated by Man. Utd’s recent chasing of Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka. United are seemingly set to sign the 21-year-old right-back for a fee in the region of £55 million, Palace eventually bending to the Red Devils’ pressure. That price, by the way, is more than Unai Emery’s entire budget. And make no mistake about it, Wan-Bissaka is not the only player that United will be signing this summer.

And this just goes to show the task that Emery faces as he looks to rebuild his squad. Not only has he inherited a collection of players that are overpaid and underperforming, especially in comparison to the sheer excellence of Manchester City and Liverpool’s, Arsenal ultimate rivals, but he now has to provide himself with a set of new tools on nothing more than leftover gift vouchers.

Emery is dealing in peanuts when his rival managers are receiving luxurious war chests to shell out on any player that they believe might even remotely help them and their team. The Gunners could never willy-nilly spend as United likely will this summer. They simply do not have the financial freedom to do so. And yet, the expectations for Emery do not change.

If Emery was to fail to qualify for the Champions League, either via a top-four finish in the Premier League or through winning the Europa League, will he still be at the helm in north London the year after? I am not sure. And yet, with a minuscule budget and deplorably lacklustre squad, that is what is demanded of him.

At this stage, Arsenal are favourites to finish in sixth. But if Emery was to finish in sixth, there would be calls for him to be fired. He really does have an impossible job, just as Man. Utd. are about to splash another £55 million.