Arsenal? 4th Spot? Hmm…

So it looks like Robin Van Persie is off to greener pastures after all. The Dutchman who scored 36 goals for Arsenal last season is on his way out of the Emirates and Manchester United are leading the race to sign the hottest property in football right now (Joe Allen aside). As an Arsenal fan, I’m probably in the minority in the sense that I don’t really care about what is going on.

History has taught me that as an Arsenal supporter, we must be prepared for our best players to jump ship. Some do it with class (Thierry Henry) and some do it in disgrace (Samir Nasri). The Emirates has become a farm where we nurture talent and then make money by selling these players to the competition. Most recently, this has directly affected Arsenal’s quest for silverware, as the more players we offload to the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona, the stronger those teams become and the weaker Arsenal becomes in the process.

This reduction in squad strength could be reduced if there were shrewd transfer moves that brought in quality players to fill the boots of Fabregas, Nasri and co., but I have believed for many years that Arsene Wenger and his group of scouts have now been caught up with by the rest of the major clubs, and we’re not finding the right players to bring in. Instead, Mikael Arteta, Marouane Chamakh and Yossi Benayoun show up. Arsenal will not win major trophies with their current squad.

Arsene Wenger will not find a player as prolific as Thierry Henry again, and even if he does, he doesn’t have the financial clout behind him to build a squad that could even clean the boots of those who played during the ‘invincible’ era. Teams around Arsenal are pumping money into bringing in established players that will mould into a younger squad. Take Chelsea for example; Didier Drogba leaves, and they bring in Eden Hazard and Oscar, two very exciting prospects. While these players are young, they have proven that they belong at a big club. Mikael Arteta never proved that, and Chamakh certainly didn’t.

Arsenal have been tipped up year after year to miss out on a Champions League place, and each year they have proved their doubters wrong. This year, for the first time, I will also be one of the people they will need to prove wrong. I no longer believe that are good enough to hang with the big boys.