Arsenal squad given no hope of winning UCL, with ex-Man Utd man citing three reasons for failure

Owen Hargreaves believes Arsenal will be unable to win the Champions League as their squad is too “inexperienced” and a “lack of depth could cost them”.

The Gunners have been very solid in the Premier League for the past two seasons. They’ve missed out on the title to Manchester City both times, but that they continue to fight up at the top is encouraging.

But their form in Europe regularly leaves something to be desired. They have not passed the quarter-finals since 2008/09, when they were dumped out in the semis by Manchester United.

Last term, they bowed out in the quarter-finals, with a loss handed to them by Bayern Munich. Hargreaves does not feel they’ll fare much better this season, citing three main reasons for their impending failure.

“I don’t know if it’s naivety but I think they’re pretty inexperienced at that level,” he told Metro.

“I can’t think of many who had been there before last season – Jorginho was probably one of the few guys, Gabriel Jesus but he was a squad player at City – so I think it takes time.

“You saw that in those Bayern games, and Bayern were struggling at that point but were probably worthy winners over the two legs. So I think it takes a bit of time.

“Raheem Sterling on loan is quite interesting because he gives them experiences and extra depth to give them somebody who’s kind of been there in those games and understands what it takes.

“Kai Havertz has done an amazing job as a striker but I’m maybe slightly surprised that they didn’t add one other player to help out.

“We’ve seen it’s hard [to win the Champions League] – look at Paris Saint-Germain who have invested billions and haven’t been able to win.

“I do think that Arsenal are going up – they’ll win trophies. But the competition gets fiercer every year and that lack of depth could cost them.”

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That Arsenal now have an extra year of Champions League experience, having missed six years of the competition before last term, means they might have a better shot.

Some of the players will have to learn on the job, which puts them in a worse position than some sides, but does not necessarily mean they will perform worse.

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