Arsenal warned over glaring issues in ‘weaker’ squad as transfer failure laid bare

Arsenal sold five forwards in the summer transfer window and only signed one – they have a weaker squad now because of it.

That’s according to talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham, who is concerned about the Gunners‘ attack following Deadline Day.

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The Premier League champions didn’t do any business on the final day of the window after spending over £200million.

All of that money was spent on four incomings – Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, Piero Hincapie and Christos Tzolis.

Arsenal were linked with big-money moves for attacking stars such as Morgan Rogers, Bradley Barcola, Vinicius Jnr, Julian Alvarez, Endrick and Iliman Ndiaye at various points in the window.

Tzolis was the only attacking addition though, despite Arsenal letting Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri, Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli, who is set for Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, leave.

And that’s something that has left Durham questioning whether the Gunners are going to feel the impact of a ‘weaker’ squad.

Is Arsenal’s squad weaker this season?

Durham asked: “Arsenal’s attack, is it weaker than last season? Because if you look, Trossard has gone, Martinelli has gone.

“Martinelli, his goal rate wasn’t great last season, but he scored a very important and very good goal against Man City for a draw which effectively, and I know mathematically it doesn’t stack up, but psychologically, it won them the title.

“Gabriel Jesus has gone. Not a big player, a bit-part player, but an important one with a winning mentality.

“In has come Tzolis, who started okay, wasn’t great last night [Monday], let’s see how he goes through the whole season.

“[Viktor] Gyokeres hasn’t played a minute [this season], he’s been on the bench for both games. It’s only two games, I get it.

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“Kai Havertz last night, I was looking around social media, Arsenal fans saying, ‘Well, he’s not playing particularly well’. They got the job done, but is their attack weaker than last season?”

“With Martinelli, they’ve lost pace,” Durham added. “There’s a lack of pace around that attack, I think most Arsenal fans would agree.

“In Trossard, they’ve lost numbers because he got, in all comps, eight goals and 11 assists last season. He had a big impact off the bench at times…those are decent numbers for somebody who wasn’t a regular starter.

“Remember, they wanted Morgan Rogers. They were linked with Vinicius Junior, I don’t know how serious that was…but it didn’t happen.”

McCoist defends Arsenal’s business

Durham and some Arsenal fans have expressed their concern over the lack of attacking options in the Gunners’ squad.

However, talkSPORT’s Ally McCoist believed that Mikel Arteta still has the best set of players ever seen in the Premier League.

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He said on talkSPORT Breakfast: “I’m okay with Arsenal’s window.

“I can understand a bit of frustration from one or two of the Arsenal fans, not getting cover for Trossard or Martinelli.

“But they’ve got Tzolis who can play out there now, [Eberechi] Eze who can play in that position…Saka on the right.

“Havertz, Gyokeres, [Mikel] Merino through the middle.

“Off the bench they’ve got Eze, Guimaraes, Konsa, [Martin] Zubimendi, Hincapie, [Noni] Madueke.

“I can understand questions being asked, but they still have, in my opinion, the strongest assembled squad I think I’ve ever seen in English football.”