Retired Arsenal midfielder 'tired of' club's trophy failures, names player Gunners must hold on to
Another year without a trophy for Arsenal is starting to weigh on Emmanuel Petit.
The Gunners are on pace to finish second in the Premier League for the third consecutive season, and they were eliminated from the Champions League last week in the semi-finals by Paris Saint-Germain. Add in a lack of success in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, and the North London side will have nothing to show for a season in which they played well more often than not.
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But Petit, who won the league and FA Cup double with Arsenal in 1998, does not see the merit in Arsenal being merely a good team. The retired World Cup winner wants his former club to get back to raising silverware, and he believes the Gunners need to be active in the transfer market this summer while also holding on to key players.
The retired France international pointed to a compatriot of his as one of the players Arsenal must make sure they keep amid interest from other clubs.
"Arsenal are still second and got to the semi-final of the Champions League so it’s about what happens next in the transfer market," Petit told Casinozonderlimiet. "The club needs to bring in top players and keep hold of their best players like William Saliba, who Real Madrid want.
"Saliba needs to stay and the team needs reinforcement so they can have a better rotation, better quality on the bench because they are losing the big fights.
"After we lost against Paris Saint-Germain, the fans were mocking Arsenal because of that. It's the same in England, you know, Arsenal are a good team, a good club, but everyone says that they are not one of the top clubs in Europe in terms of history.
"That’s because they have failed and I'm tired of it. This team needs to change the situation and win something, they need to compete until the end and not just at the start.
"They need to get back to the days of 25 years ago and be the team to beat, clubs were scared to play against us and we won titles and got to finals, we put in the steps but that was it.
"Arsenal need to improve season after season and win the Champions League to prove people wrong."
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