Arsenal Transfer News: Arsene Wenger's Cryptic Comments Should Worry Supporters

Brace yourselves, Arsenal supporters. It's going to be another disappointing summer.

The transfer window has become a running joke for the club. Every year, supporters hear how this is the time the club will finally open up the transfer war chest and spend the £50, £60 or £70 million that's been saved up for years. Finally, this is the time Arsene Wenger gets serious about winning the league again and is prepared to bring top players to the Emirates.

Then, of course, the club generally lose their best players and only manage to bring in substandard replacements after being linked with some of the top young players in the world.

Occasionally, it works out, in the cases of Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta, among others. For the most part, though, the Gunners move no closer to winning a title. In a bit of damage control, supporters have to hear from Wenger about how Arsenal are already good enough and player X is like a brand new signing because he's now healthy or more prepared for the Premier League.

Wenger is truly in midseason form, as he already has the first part of that plan in motion, per the Daily Mail's Sami Mokbel:

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We are still working on improving our squad but we have a basis of young players who are getting a chance here — players who started in the Premier League like Wojciech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott.

No-one else has done that. Look at our competitors. Who has started for them in the Premier League in the last 10 years?

I believe all of those players have a special bond and are on the way up. They will be better next year and that’s why I’m confident we will be stronger next season.

It gives me a slight advantage because I know my squad well. It will take my rivals some time to know theirs, except Jose Mourinho, who knows some of his from before.

But we should focus on our strengths rather than expect any weakness from the others.

It is important to have strong start and raise belief. Last season when we lost Robin van Persie we had a sceptical environment around the club. We need the crowd to be behind the team.

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The problem is, the team isn't good enough. Unless, of course, Wenger thinks qualifying for the Champions League is good enough, it's hard to see where exactly he's coming from. The team hasn't been good enough to win the title for the past seven or eight seasons.

There are clear issues with this team that look to be going unnoticed for yet another season.

The Gunners still need a striker to help out Olivier Giroud. Giroud should play well next year, but the combination of Giroud, Yaya Sanogo and Theo Walcott is not a deep strike force.

A centre-back should also be a priority, as the Gunners only have three (Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny) who are of Premier League-quality right now.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City have all gotten stronger. Meanwhile, the Gunners have done nothing.

You can sense that supporters are beginning to get fed up with Wenger. It's hard to blame them. They have to shell out an exorbitant amount for tickets and club officials are apparently content with not mounting a title challenge.

The last thing the supporters need is to be patronized and told that they have to be "behind the team." They would be if they saw any concerted effort from the club actually to get better.

When the club first moved into the Emirates, it was understandable why they couldn't spend huge in the transfer market. Arsenal had to pay off the stadium and, as a result, took sponsorship deals that would be lucrative in the short term but below market value in the long term.

Now the Gunners are fresh off signing a new kit deal with Puma, courtesy of The Express. Although that will take effect next season, the club know they will be buoyed by that money next summer and should have plenty saved up from Champions League revenue and player sales over the last three or four years.

What's the excuse now for not spending money?

Arsenal have lost out on Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez seems to be an unlikely option as well. The BBC's David Ornstein reported Suarez may put in a transfer request to help speed up a move to the Emirates. This move has gotten to the point that you're not going to believe Suarez will be an Arsenal player until he's at a press conference, holding up the shirt and standing next to Wenger and Ivan Gazidis.

Is Ashley Williams really the kind of marquee signing to take the club to the next level? He could very well be the biggest player to arrive at the Emirates this season. The Daily Mirror's John Cross reported the Gunners could be in for the 28-year-old centre-back.

The fact that Wenger is already trying to assure supporters and get them behind the club is a worrying sign for Arsenal. At least Wenger will get to lift his fourth-place trophy at the end of the season.