Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn believes the pressure is about to be ramped up on Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, as he insists the club have more than just one problem to solve in this summer’s transfer window.
Arteta is about to finish his fifth full season as Arsenal boss without a trophy, after their last hope of ending the drought came with a Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain.
Now Winterburn, who won seven major trophies during his time at Arsenal, has told Football365 that the clock is ticking on Arteta and a team that continues to stumble when they are closing in on trophy success.
The former Gunners full-back also hinted that a killer instinct needs to be injected into Arteta’s team, with their failure to take their chances in front of goal and habit of dropping points from winning positions emerging as constant flaws in their make-up.
“I would say Arteta is under pressure to deliver a trophy now. How much pressure is he under? I don’t know,” Winterburn told Football365 with BetVictor.
“They are very close and have been for the last three seasons, but there is no doubt that Arsenal need to find a way to be more than just a team that has potential.
“In my eyes, there may be a killer instinct as they have dropped a lot of points from winning positions this season.
“Also, there are times when we are a little static trying to break down teams and when you get as close as Arsenal have done over the last couple of seasons, expectation builds.
“Big clubs can’t keep saying next season we will win something. It has to happen now, but we also need to remember where the team was when Arteta arrived.
“We won a few FA Cups in that final period under Arsene Wenger, but I never believed Arsenal had a team that could challenge to win the Premier League and they were not even thinking about the Champions League at that stage.
MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Williams ‘looks for house in London’ ahead of Arsenal transfer as ‘Arteta blows two Barcelona signings’
👉 Arsenal ‘advanced’ in bid for £60m striker as Andrea Berta ‘hard at work’ to land Chelsea star
👉 Arsenal ‘exploring possibility’ of signing Brazil striker from Premier League rivals as they ‘show interest’
“That has changed over the last three seasons. I don’t think they did a lot wrong the previous two years, but there is no doubt we have dropped off this season.
“We are all fed up saying they are going to win something next season at this time every year, but I am convinced they will be in the mix for trophies again next season.”
Arsenal made a bid to sign Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in the January transfer window, but the deal fell through and long-term injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz left the Gunners short of attacking options heading into the final weeks of the season.
Yet Winterburn insists the addition of a striker will not instantly solve Arsenal’s problems, as he argues the depth of Arteta’s squad has been exposed this season.
“A lot of people have said that Arsenal just need to sign a striker to win the league, but I don’t agree with that,” he added.
“The squad needs to be balanced in different areas and this has been highlighted over the course of the season.
“At one point, we couldn’t get a full-back on the pitch as they were all injured. We suffered defensively to start with and then it switched to the attacking players in the second half of the season.
“The goals tally is down for Arsenal this season, but I still think this squad has huge potential and can win big trophies. It’s not far away, but the problem is we have been saying this for some time now.
“To be a great team, to be seen as a winner, you need to win major trophies and that’s what has to change now. Arteta knows that. That’s why there is frustration there because he knows his team are close.
“So until they win something big, people will constantly bring up this issue about signing a striker.”