Can Arsenal Win the Premier League Without Acquiring a New Spine?
For all the vivacious talent Arsenal have employed over the past decade, there is little doubt as to why they have not won the Premier League since 2003/04: The Gunners have been relatively brittle when compared to their title rivals.
Individual talent from the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and a host of other technically skilled footballers can win games, but it has proven too little to win the league. Since going unbeaten in 2003/04, the closest Arsenal have come to being champions was a third-place finish in 2007/08—and a distance of four points behind winners Manchester United.
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The spine of a football team can be described in a few ways, but the most accepted definition is a strong goalkeeper, centre-back, central-defensive midfielder and centre-forward.
The last spine Arsene Wenger could rely on existed 12 seasons ago. In 2003/04, the north Londoners had Jens Lehmann (54 starts), Sol Campbell (50 starts), Patrick Vieira (43 starts) and Thierry Henry (50 starts) as their backbone, which resulted in an unbeaten Premier League season.
Fast-forward a dozen years and, despite winning back-to-back FA Cups, the Gunners' 2014/15 spine could be considered Wojciech Szczesny (29 starts), Laurent Koscielny (38 starts), Francis Coquelin (26 starts) and Olivier Giroud (26 starts).
When compared to the Invincibles' quartet, even the most staunch "Gooner" must admit Arsenal's spine has severely dropped in world-class quality.
Reasons for such disparity are varied.
The Emirates Stadium's construction has certainly handicapped Wenger's buying power, as balanced spending has been a hallmark of the past 10 years. Additionally, players who would have elevated Arsenal's quality (Robin van Persie springs to mind) were sold in an effort to save or collect money.
Now in a better state financially (according to Nick Harris of the Daily Mail, Arsenal won £96.5 million from domestic prize money alone last season), the worst seems to be over.
Wenger cannot and should not be expected to recreate arguably the best Premier League side ever. Vieira and Henry were generational players whose "replacements" cannot be found easily—if at all—but Wenger should be attempting to get as close as possible (within monetary reason).
This summer, it seems the north Londoners have finally decided to target players who could provide the club's spine with more steel.
Petr Cech (per the Daily Star's David Woods), Morgan Schneiderlin (via the Mirror's Alex Crook) and Jackson Martinez (per the Express' Joe Short) have all been strongly linked with Arsenal, and their suggested aggregate transfer fees would cost £64 million.
Considering the Gunners spent £92.9 million last year in transfers, £14 million for Cech, £25 million for Schneiderlin and another £25 million for Martinez (who AC Milan desperately want, via the Guardian) would not deviate massively from Arsenal's spending patterns, but it would transform the club into something more than title hopefuls—they would be title contenders.
The question for Wenger to answer this summer is: "Do I want to man manage?"
Signing three world-class players in one window would likely make waves in the Arsenal dressing room.
Would Szczesny or David Ospina willingly take a backseat role to Cech? Would Coquelin—who was a breakout star last season—accept a deputy role behind Schneiderlin, and could the French boss convince the striking minds of Giroud, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck to stay in north London with a 28-year-old Martinez in the ranks?
If the goal is to win the Premier League and advance past the round of 16 in the Champions League, then they are gambles Wenger must be willing to take and challenges current players must be willing to accept.
The hardest-working player on a team should not necessarily be an attacking winger. Alexis did as much as he could in 2014/15 and probably deserved more for those efforts, but without a solid spine to assist him and other silk-like pieces at the Emirates, Arsenal will incessantly find themselves just short of their ultimate ambition.
Can the Gunners win the Premier League without a few new pieces in their backbone?
Absolutely not.
Nothing is guaranteed in 2015/16 (even if they do sign marquee names this summer), but with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United not in the business of shielding pounds to win England's top honour, the Gunners should not be either.
The north London side's ability to compete starts and ends with them acquiring a world-class spine.
Stats via WhoScored.com; transfer fees via Soccerbase where not note.
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