This season has been an unmitigated disaster for Arsenal. Having entered the campaign with real aspirations of returning to the top, things could hardly have gone worse up to this point.
They sit in 1oth place in the table, seven points off the Champions League spots. They are also managerless having sacked Unai Emery a few weeks ago.
Mikel Arteta is reportedly set to take over, but he will have a major rebuilding job on his hands. That much is obvious, but it could be an even bigger task than first thought.
Miguel Delaney of The Independent is reporting that up to half of the current first team squad wants to leave the club, including some big names. Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka are amongst those currently considering their futures, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has apparently already decided to leave.
The Gabon international was appointed club captain earlier this season after Xhaka was stripped of the armband, but that has done little to encourage the player to stay in North London. He is edging for a move to a club that compete for major honours immediately.
His loss would be a big blow for Arsenal when you consider the goalscoring burden that he shoulders.
Despite this a major overhaul may be no bad thing. A number of players have been underperforming for far too long, with many not possessing the type of attitude required to turns things around at Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta will no doubt want to put his own stamp on the squad, but how much money he will be given to do so is an altogether different matter.
While Arsenal have made some sizeable purchases in recent seasons, they have spent frugally on other players. If they are to challenge for the top four again, much less the title, more investment is needed.
