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Arsene Wenger’s mistake at Arsenal hasn’t been fixed yet – and it’s an expensive club

Arsene Wenger resigned as Arsenal manager in 2018 after 22 years at the helm of the North London club.

It was widely recognized that the Gunners had to go in a new direction at the time, as Wenger had apparently hit a wall that could not be negotiated.

The club, which was Wenger’s title contender, was regressing.

Completion of the top four was becoming increasingly difficult, with the Gunners generally good forward, but increasingly sloppy in defense. The growing turmoil among the fan base eventually saw Wenger jump before he was pushed.

Arsenal replaced Wenger with Unai Emery, a talented manager who had previously had real success with Sevilla, winning the Europa League three times with them.



Arsene Wenger resigned as Arsenal manager in 2018

The Spaniard had just split the company with Paris Saint-Germain, which means he also knew how to handle great players and a changing room full of ego.

Things got off to a good start with Emery, with fans who heard “We got our Arsenal back” during a victory over Fulham.

But it wasn’t long before things started to get rough and eventually Emery was fired.

There are many reasons Emery made a mistake in Arsenal, but perhaps breaking the bank to sign a £ 72m striker Nicolas Pepe was not the best move for a cash-strapped club in dire need of defenders.

Yes, Emery has signed Kieran Tierney, which is proving to be an excellent purchase.



Unai Emery failed to strengthen Arsenal’s defense

But the club was in desperate need of a central defender even before Laurent Koscielny left that same summer and should have made signing one a priority.

Instead, Arsenal picked up David Luiz from the bucket of the deal – and their scriming and saving has come back to haunt them.

When Mikel Arteta was finally handed over to the team in 2019, he inherited a complete mess on the back, with Tierney and Hector Bellerin struggling with injuries and a plethora of medium to medium bang defenders.

In addition, Pepe’s transfer meant that the bank was empty when he needed to make some purchases in January.



Arsenal invested £ 72 million on Nicolas Pepe

As a result, Arteta could only sign Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares on loan in a desperate attempt to patch up his defense.

As we have seen since the restart of the Premier League, these additions have done little to solve Arsenal’s problems.

Arteta has been very unfortunate for injuries, but even at full strength Arsenal is not quite as defensive as it should be.

It seems that Wenger’s problems are still present in two years.

Emmanuel Petit underlined this with a recent analysis of the club. “I was particularly upset about the defenders,” he said.



Mikel Arteta inherited something messy at Arsenal

“We all know that one of the main weaknesses of Arsenal is their defense and nothing has changed. This makes me miss Arsene Wenger.

“If I were David Luiz, obviously I would sign a new agreement and also say a thank you prayer to the directors of Arsenal every time I wake up.

“Even the last time he won the Premier League with Chelsea, he is no longer the same player. This guy has lost something.

“To be honest, it’s a joke. Find real defenders. Are you telling me there aren’t any talented young defenders on the market? I just don’t understand.”



David Luiz has proven to be a bad signature

Pointing his finger at the Gunners’ council for guilt, Petit added: “Does anyone think Arsenal officials and directors know what they are doing on the football side?

“In the past few years, they have entered the transfer market – and brought some decent players – but I don’t know what their goal or plan is for the future.

“Now it’s much worse than in recent years under Wenger. What’s the point of being one of the richest clubs on the planet with no reason or vision behind it?”

* Emmanuel Petit spoke exclusively to Paddy Power News. To learn more, visit news.paddypower.com.

* Sign up to Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip

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