What Arsenal must do to turn Mikel Arteta’s ‘nearly men’ into winners | OneFootball

Gunners need to make a statement and sign a top-level striker to get them over the line after their latest disappointment

This was a familiar result for Arsenal, a familiar performance and so, most painfully of all, a familiar feeling.

Arsenal have now lost their last four semi-finals under Mikel Arteta, which is their longest ever run at this stage of competitions.

Arsenal gave their all on a dramatic night in Paris but ultimately fell short

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When the tears dry and the pain eases, the question is where do Arsenal go from here?

The tag of nearly men, of opposing fans singing “second again”, is proving hard to shift as the Gunners continue to search for their first trophy since 2020.

Arteta’s solution has been, ever since Arsenal lost out in the title race in 2022-23, to double down on strengthening his defence.

Arsenal had the best defence in the Premier League last season and they are on course to do so again this year. In the Champions League this season, only Inter Milan have kept more clean sheets.

But that improvement has not brought silverware and this summer is the moment for Arsenal to add firepower.

Two years ago, Declan Rice arrived for a fee of £105million in a real statement of intent. Arteta described him as a “lighthouse” and it feels like Arsenal need a similar signing now in attack.

The pressure on the new striker will be huge. They will be viewed as the missing piece, the player to get Arsenal over the line.

It takes someone special to handle that, in the same way Rice dealt with his huge transfer fee, and it is why the idea of Alexander Isak arriving from Newcastle is a dream scenario.

If anyone could cope with that pressure, you would back Isak, who was pivotal in Newcastle ending their long wait for a trophy this season.

Mikel Arteta needs to be backed in the transfer market this summer

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But Arsenal’s attack feels like it needs more than one striker.

A new left winger to compete with Gabriel Martinelli would be welcomed, as would another central playmaker to ease the burden on Martin Odegaard.

Just over a year ago, Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals and the feeling then was that they were light in attack.

It is the same set of forwards now, only with the addition of Raheem Sterling, who did not play a minute in either leg of this semi-final defeat.

A new forward should have been Arsenal’s first signing last summer, instead it was their last - and that cannot happen again.

All of this is, of course, nothing new. It was in January last year that club legend Ian Wright tweeted: “We need a killer”.

Kai Havertz’s fine form over the following six months changed that feeling, but Arsenal cannot allow that to happen this summer.

The biggest mistake the club could make would be to think that, if they had not been hit with injuries, the attack was strong enough. It needs reinforcements and has done for sometime.

Arsenal’s run to the Champions League semi-finals did underline how far they have come under Mikel Arteta

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A summer without a major tournament should help Arsenal and they must look to follow the blueprint of two years ago.

On that occasion, all their big signings - Jurrien Timber, Havertz and Rice - were in the door by the middle of July in time for their pre-season tour to the US.

Last year, Arsenal struggled to get business done early - partly due to Euro 2024 - and they were scrambling around on deadline day.

New sporting director Andrea Berta will not want a repeat of that and this is a huge summer for him, just as much as it is for Arsenal.

Berta was at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, along with the rest of Arsenal’s executive team, and he will have surely come away with the same feeling others did.

As Arteta said, this was a game of fine margins that was decided in both boxes. PSG had the heroic Gianluigi Donnarumma and took their chances. Arsenal did not.

The solution, at least, feels obvious. So much of this Arsenal team is positive and the way they played in the opening 20 minutes last night showed how they belong on this stage.

It also underlined how far the Gunners have come under Arteta, who were 10th in the Premier League on the day he was appointed six years ago.

Arteta has made huge strides since then, but the challenge for both him and Arsenal is to now take that final step.