Arsenal academy chief Per Mertesacker admits the senior team is nicely away from what followers predict from them.
The former Germany worldwide addressed feedback made years in the past by Arsenal’s former CEO Ivan Gazidis, when he claimed the Gunners would be capable to compete with European powerhouses like Bayern Munich in three years time – that was again in 2013.
Speaking to The Beautiful Game podcast, Mertesacker defined: “Fans need to see the Premiership, they need to see the Champions League, they simply return on what was stated at the moment [by previous leadership].
“Now, there’s some readability supplied on how the subsequent 2-3 years will appear like realistically, I feel that’s necessary as nicely as a result of on the again of what was stated by the earlier leaders was ‘difficult with Bayern Munich, difficult to win Champions Leagues’ – we’re so distant from that, and nonetheless the expectation is that.
“Someone wanted to alter that, make an effort going into the subsequent interval the place you see different membership’s overtaking us however we’re right here to place the power in and supply excellence for different generations and for the squad that’s right here.”
The ex-Arsenal star was then pressed on whether or not he feels the present crop of gamers are good enough to safe a top-four end this season, to which he responded, quite bluntly: “Probably not, my prime focus is on the subsequent couple of video games, however I’m often wanting extra long-term.
“Edu [technical director] must look extra long-term – we have to construct a basis for the subsequent three to four years, Edu lives in 3-4 12 months cycles, me being the academy head I reside in ten 12 months cycles now.
“Mikel [Arteta] wants to handle the right here and now, the subsequent video games are crucial as a soccer membership.”
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https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/arsenal-academy-chief-mertesacker-senior-team-not-good-enough-for-top-four-4386689