Gary Neville claims Arsenal’s ‘panic bid’ proves ‘toothless’ stars under ‘spotlight’ are ‘not good enough’
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has picked out Arsenal’s transfer priority after their January “panic bid” proves several stars are “not good enough”.
It is widely recognised that the Gunners lack a world-class centre-forward and this problem has been exposed by their woes in front of goal this season.
Kai Havertz has been criticised for his performances this season and without injured Gabriel Jesus, he is Mikel Arteta’s only fit centre-forward.
Arsenal tried to sign a new striker in January as they lodged a shock bid to sign Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins, which was swiftly rejected.
With Arsenal failing to sign Watkins or RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, they are left with limited attacking options until the summer and they were toothless against Newcastle United in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night.
The Magpies took a 2-0 aggregate lead into their second leg and extended their advantage with a 2-0 win at St James’ Park to book their place at Wembley.
Speaking on co-commentary, Neville claims Arsenal’s “panic bid” for Watkins shows “the ones up front aren’t good enough”, with Havertz presumably the main player he’s referring to.
“This has shown a massive spotlight on the toothlessness of Arsenal’s forward players compared to what we’re seeing at the other end of the pitch,” Neville said during the match.
“They have to [strengthen in the position] this summer.
“I was supportive of them not panicking, finding the player they want, I get that.
“But when they bid for Ollie Watkins, they are sending a message to the rest of the squad, the ones up front aren’t good enough. They were never going to get him anyway.”
Speaking post-match, Arteta claimed Arsenal were on the wrong end of “two bid moments” on Wednesday evening.
“We had so many expectations, obviously, to believe that we could turn it around, we needed to generate momentum, especially in the first half,” Arteta said.
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“The game started in the first action almost with them scoring and then the goal being denied.
“Then we had the moment, two big moments, with Martin [Odegaard], we didn’t capitalise the next action, they scored the goal and obviously, the game shifted.
“Then, you need to stay cool, to score a goal as early as possible. We didn’t manage to do that in the first half even though we had another big chance.
“In the second half then we started to struggle as the game went by and we didn’t generate enough situations, establish ourselves in the final third enough. The game started to get away from us.”
