Image Credit: ph.FAB
Arsenal are out of the Champions League, defeated in both legs of the semi finals by Paris Saint-Germain who will go to Munich to face Inter Milan for the trophy. For the third time running, a season of great promise will not yield silverware for Mikel Arteta and company. Since the Gunners former club captain took the helm in late 2019, young and unprecedentedly green, a fresh faced David charged with the Goliathan task of resurrecting a sleeping giant, there have been two constants; progress and heartbreak.
Now the question rings more urgent than ever. What will it take to get Arsenal over this final hurdle?
The growing discontent amongst the Gunners faithful may appear to some as entitlement. The club sits 2nd on the Premier League ladder, knocked out of Europe but having reached their first semi final in 16 years. Despite an injury stricken squad, they competed admirably with a high flying PSG, and comfortably dispatched the reigning champions in Real Madrid.
Not so long ago Arsenal fans had become accustomed to fearing ties like these, in the late Wenger years when Barcelona and Bayern Munich made an annual tradition of tormenting them. Then they became accustomed to pining for those days, aching for the privilege to get walloped by Europe’s elite, as 7 years of absence from the Champions League took Arsenal out of the continental conversation completely. When Arteta took over, the gap between Arsenal and the Real Madrids and PSGs of the world was an insurmountable chasm, but then they surmounted it.
Why then, does this one weigh so heavy on the heart? Why does it feel like such a low?
For one there is a sense of what could have been if Arsenal’s need for a number 9 had been addressed in the summer transfer window. Season ending injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus have forced Arteta to rely on square pegs in a round hole so far in 2025.
Lanky holding midfielder Mikel Merino has done his best to learn on the job as a makeshift target man, but the Spaniard was not signed for his goal scoring instincts. Leandro Trossard, the diminutive left winger known for his finishing, has fared no better in his limited chances, lacking the physical presence to consistently influence the game from the focal point of the attack.
Bad luck with injuries doesn’t entirely excuse this situation. The lack of a clinical centre forward was a clear concern going into the season, as doubts around the finishing of Jesus and Havertz persisted. Arsenal showed a keen interest in rising Slovenian star, Benjamin Sesko, early in the window. The club were prepared to trigger his £55 million release clause, but the sought after young striker chose to renew his contract with RB Leipzig instead, so sporting director Edu Gaspar’s attentions shifted to other areas of the pitch.
Arsenal recruited from the pool of Euro 2024 standouts, adding Merino along with the marauding Italian left back, Ricciardo Calafiori, and tacked on a somewhat puzzling free transfer for Raheem Sterling, whose spot in the pecking order was almost immediately overtaken by 17 year old phenom Ethan Nwaneri.
By January they were strikerless, but beyond a brief flirtation with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, no efforts were made to address this in the winter window. Is it simply a lack of options? Napoli’s Osimhen and Sporting’s Gyökeres have been regular points of discussion amongst fans, but there has been no approach toward either.
You could view 2024’s summer business as a mark of the club’s commitment to Sesko. Of the available and viable options, he is the least experienced by far, but also perhaps the best fit for Arsenal’s playstyle and the demands of the Premier League. His elite off the ball movement has proven effective at creating open spaces when the box becomes congested with a low defensive block; a dilemma Arsenal encounter on a near weekly basis.
If they are to return for a second go at signing the 21 year old, they likely won’t be alone in their interest, and certainly won’t be looking at the kind of bargain that was on the table last year. Sesko continues to go from strength to strength, and is now under contract until 2029. A hefty fee will be required to pry him away from Leipzig, but this is the kind of ambition in the transfer market that fans now expect from Arsenal, ever since the £105 million move for their quarter final hero, Declan Rice, of whom they sing ‘we got him half price’.
There is an inherent uncertainty going into the summer, since Edu announced his resignation in November of last year to be replaced by Atletico’s experienced sporting director, Andrea Berta. Surely though, there can be no question as to what Arsenal’s most urgent need is. If they expect to lift a trophy come next year (and they do) then they must sign a striker.
Acquisitions and injuries aside, this semi final defeat leaves behind a bittersweet feeling. One that has become familiar, almost routine, over the last 3 years. It’s a feeling headlined by frustration, disappointment, even devastation, but always tinged with renewed belief and pride.
In 2021-22, Arsenal were resurgent and a long awaited return to the Premier League’s top 4 seemed in their grasp, but in May it came crashing down. A blockbuster North London Derby in the brand new Tottenham Stadium gave Spurs the chance to leapfrog their neighbours and arch rivals. Arsenal had been on a tear in the second half of the season, but an injury to star centre back William Saliba forced out of form deputy Rob Holding to match up against the brilliant duo of Kane and Son at their very best. The Englishman was sent off for two yellows in the first half, and Spurs cruised to the win and into the Champions League places.
If that was a slap in the face, the collapse of 2022-23 was a dagger straight through the heart.
Arsenal again took an enormous leap forward, with their best ever first half in the Premier League era. At New Years, the Gunners had dropped just 5 points from 19 games, and looked imperious and at times unplayable. As the season wore on, Arsenal were pushed harder and harder, but kept daylight between themselves and Manchester City thanks to dramatic late victories over United and Aston Villa, and a frenzied comeback against Bournemouth capped by Reiss Nelson’s unforgettable last gasp winner.
With 9 to play, the Gunners led by 8 points. What followed was the worst capitulation by a 1st place team since Newcastle’s infamous 1995-96 season. In April, Arsenal dropped points from a 2-0 lead in back to back games, and were outplayed on their own ground by last placed Southampton. Arteta’s young squad appeared a shadow of themselves, broken down by the pressure and weight of history. By the time they rolled into Manchester for the likely title decider against City, it was clear to see that they were overawed and unready for the moment. Guardiola’s serial winners were ruthless in contrast, putting 4 past the Gunners on their way to a razor thin 1 point title win, and Arsenal were left to agonise over what could have been.
2023-24 brought yet more progress and yet more heartbreak. Despite a shaky run of form at Christmas, Arsenal’s nerve held strong this time down the home stretch, dropping only 4 points after the New Year. Not to be outdone, City spent the same period undefeated, and secured their 4th straight Premier League title on the final day, winning by a single point again. The outpouring of emotion from Arsenal players was felt deeply in the stands and through TV screens around the world. Nothing could adequately express the disappointment of coming up short by the barest of margins yet again.
While this season has seen the Gunners take a step backward in the league, unable to keep pace with Arne Slot’s Liverpool who charged ahead from the get go, their Champions League campaign has been a major confidence boost for Arteta. They’ve looked a different beast in Europe, and demonstrated clearly why domestic opponents are so often hesitant to take risks that might afford Arsenal open spaces.
Facing Real Madrid, the quarter finals will live long in the memory for the Arsenal faithful as one of their greatest ever Champions League triumphs. Declan Rice’s two world beating free kicks that sent the Emirates into pandemonium, and the late Martinelli winner at the Bernabeu to complete a 5-1 aggregate rout of the champions, were truly indelible moments. A chance to progress to Arsenal’s second ever UCL final was their prize, but PSG were always going to make for a tough test, being as they are the only team more desperate for a first taste of European glory than the Gunners.
Arsenal threw everything they could at the French champions over two legs, still hampered by a weakened squad with just a handful of senior players available on the bench. At home they felt the absence of suspended defensive midfielder, Thomas Partey, who picked up a yellow against Real Madrid for a silly act of retaliation. Still though, both games were close run affairs, decided by clinical finishing from the Parisians and two stellar performances in goal by Gianluigi Donnarumma. The towering Italian was virtually unbeatable. World class saves to deny Trossard in the first leg and Ødegaard and Saka in the second will no doubt stick in the mind for Arsenal, as they went down 3-1 on aggregate.
By all metrics, Arsenal deserve to hold their heads high in defeat here, but it gets harder and harder to appreciate these moments when every great leap forward is met swiftly with a punch in the guts. It’s no easy thing to stand tall while the air floods out of your lungs. There is a palpable anxiety now to be free from the label of ‘bottlejobs’. Always the nearly team, left flattened on the turf. Never the grinning victors.
Arteta cut a frustrated figure after the final whistle. “It’s not enough saying, ‘yeah we were very close, yeah we competed so well, yeah we were probably better than them for most of the tie”, he told reporters. “It has to hurt, because if not it will happen again.”
He must be asking himself how many more times it has to hurt for it to stop happening.
The words ‘ahead of schedule’ have been ever present in the discussion around Arteta’s reign. Arsenal were deep in a hole of their own making when they turned to the untested young coach. Discordant, languishing, and reliant on comically unserious players. The board gambled on his glowing reputation behind the scenes at Manchester City, where the incomparable Pep Guardiola had taken him under his wing. Under immense scrutiny, he dragged them up the ladder towards greatness, reaching every rung in record time. He has refined the Arsenal machine in every way, crafting this team of youth and potential into title challengers faster than anyone could’ve predicted, and perhaps before the players themselves were ready.
Now the schedule has caught up with him. The expectations are raised and the conversation has changed. As Arsenal look toward a sixth full season under Arteta, the bar for success is clear and unequivocal:
Win now. Premier League or Champions League. Nothing else will do.
-Will Newby