Jamie Carragher fired a clear warning to Mikel Arteta back in 2022 and his failure to listen has come back to bite Arsenal this season.
Arsenal look set for yet another season without silverware as they currently trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 15 points, they are out of both domestic cups and face a daunting route to reach a potential Champions League Final.
The Gunners under Mikel Arteta’s tutelage have been fighting for the Premier League title for the last three seasons but have come up just short at each attempt.
The North London club’s deficiencies have been well documented this term and the warning the former Liverpool defender sent them three years ago has now come back to bite them.
Jamie Carragher warned Mikel Arteta about signing an elite striker three years ago
Speaking back in 2022, Jamie Carragher warned Mikel Arteta that Arsenal needed to sign an elite striker if they wanted to compete for the Premier League title.
At the time, Arsenal were fighting for a place in the top and were a team on the up, although there were big question marks as to whether they could make the next step.
The Gunners have made tremendous progress over the last three years, however, Arteta’s side have nothing tangible in the way of silverware to show for their efforts.
All the debate around Arteta’s side this season has been their lack of a top striker, which is something the former Liverpool defender urged them to buy all the way back in 2022.
Carragher told The Overlap: “I think when you liken it to what Klopp did with Liverpool, Arsenal are at the stage where they don’t have a Ronaldo, a Kane.
“The next two or three signings for Arsenal have to be Alisson, Van Dijk, what they did for Liverpool, where they take it from fighting for the top four to making that jump where you’re competing with City, Liverpool, Chelsea – that’s Arsenal next thing.
“They need a really top centre forward who could really take them up a level. They need those two or three stars because what they have now is a really good team, well coached, young players, but that’s never going to be enough on its own, they need two superstars to elevate them.”
Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta facing crucial transfer decision at Arsenal this summer
Arteta is set for the most important summer transfer window of his six-year tenure in North London as he looks to add a centre forward to his squad.
It’s almost certain that the Gunners will sign a striker and the Spanish manager will need to ensure they secure the player who will hit the ground running.
He looks set to be helped by Andrea Berta who is close to being appointed as sporting director and who has a great track record of signing top forwards.
Griezmann, Suarez, Cunha and Alvarez are attackers who Berta has signed and who have proven to be huge successes for Atletico Madrid.
TBR Football understands that Berta has already told Arsenal he wants to sign Cunha again having brought him to Atleti back in 2021.
