Have been thinking about doing a thread on Arsenal's terrible dealings regarding transfers and contracts in recent seasons.

So here is how you go from title contenders to a Europa League side in 7 seasons. Strap in, it's going to be a long thread

Summer of 2013 is the first year we didn't need to sell a star to finance transfers
-We desperately needed a DM and CF, those positions were filled by Flamini and Sanogo
-Broke club-record transfer fee on Mesut Ozil, a great player but those gaping holes in DM and CF remained

Failed title charge of 2014 exposed these issues. They had to be addressed in the summer of 2014 if we were going to challenge for a title.
-Alexis Sanchez was a superb addition but he was a winger and didn't solve our CF issue.
-Debuchy and Ospina were solid if unspectacular

After an injury to Olivier Giroud late into August, the club was sent into panic mode. We needed to sign a CF to replace Giroud even when he was fit, nevermind the fact he was now injured.
We end up buying Danny Welbeck, a solid player but CF was once again a problem area

Arsenal had a good end to the 14/15 season but still finished 12 points behind Chelsea. The team still needed a DM and a CF (Despite the emergence of Coqzorla) whilst the GK position was plagued with uncertainty.
-Summer 2015 ended with a 33 year old Cech. And that was it

Unsurprisingly the gaps we left in the squad came back to haunt us. Cazorla got injured and Giroud took a holiday. Our failure to add to the squad cost us our best chance of a title since 2004. We had to get it right in summer 2016, as the big sides would be back in business

Summer of 2016 was a disaster.
-Arsenal wanted breakout star Jamie Vardy but ended up Lucas Perez
-N'Golo Kante was available for £32 million. We spent more on Granit Xhaka.
-We wasted all summer chasing a CB only to end up spending £35 million on Mustafi

Absolutely disastrous

After a promising start, we had a terrible 2017 and despite a sensational season from Alexis Sanchez we finished outside the top 4 for the first time since 1996.
Years of failing to address issues and when we finally did, it was with substandard players caught up with us

The summer of 2017 was a chance to start a rebuild. Our biggest stars both had a year left on their contract but were in their late 20s. We had to be decisive. Letting the contracts get to this point was a mess but we had a chance to deal with it properly. But this is Arsenal

Obsessed with being a big club we decided they were not for sale. But yet, neither player had signed a new deal.
It was clear that Alexis Sanchez wasn't going to stay and we had a way to escape our ineptitude. Manchester City offered £60 million for a 29 year old with 1 year left

For some reason we rejected it. And then on deadline day, we decided to accept it. In a panic to replace him we sent an offer of £92 million to Monaco for Thomas Lemar, which they obviously accepted. Realising the craziness of that bid, we pulled out and were stuck with Alexis.

I haven't even touched on the fact we only added Lacazette and a free signing Kolasinac to a side that finished in 5th. Ineptitude of the highest order.
We entered the January 2018 transfer window with no contracts for both Ozil and Alexis. Typical Arsenal panic commenced

In a bid to get some return for Alexis, we flipped him to Manchester United for 29 year old Mkhitaryan. Months after turning down £60 million, this was a shocking return.
Not wanting to lose both superstars, Ozil was given an enormous contract, which has proved to be a disaster

A move for Aubameyang held off some unrest from supporters, but spending £60 million on a CF 6 months after spending £45 million on Lacazette shows how poorly we plan the squad. 1 away win in 2018 and a semi final collapse against Atletico consigned us to another season of Europa

A new manager, a new era but the same old Arsenal. Leno and Torreira were decent additions in the summer of 2018, but spending £16 million on Sokratis when other cheaper options were available left Arsenal with another old player on high wages.

Needing a boost in January we loaned Denis Suarez, who went on to play 71 league minutes.
1 point from games against Everton, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Leicester and Wolves and the debacle in Baku and we were stuck in Europa again.

We made some decent signings in the summer of 2019. Ceballos was a solid move and bringing in Saliba and Tierney was finally some evidence of long term planning. But dropping a £72 million winger into a squad with so many holes wasn't ideal. And then David Luiz happened

Raul Sanllehi's handling of the Unai Emery situation was enough to get him fired. Wanting an extension after Baku was bad enough but his commitment to delaying his inevitable sacking has written off this season. Ljungberg and then Arteta were doomed to fail.

We desperately needed additions in January and ended up moving for Pablo Mari and Cedric. Too soon to pass much judgement but neither of these signings are going to lift us out of our predicament. And of course, there's the alarming sight of our friend Kia at Cedric's signing

So that takes us to 2020 and we've come full circle from 2017. Our best player and star young player have a year left on their deals while Auba is probably too old to warrant a big contract, a squad with gaping holes in defence, midfield and attack. Old players on big wages.

Years and years of awful decision making has led to this point.
We wasted our window from 2013-2016 to establish ourselves as PL title winners whilst our moves from 2016 to now have cemented our place as a Europa league side.
Now is the time for a long term approach

Stop the signings of old players on big wages, stop allowing players to run their contracts down, start signing players that fit the team, sell players at the right time. It is possible to climb back up but it's going to be a long road and we've got to start making good decisions

I did warn you it would be a long thread but that's Arsenal FC for you

Less than a week and we're back at it.
Arsenal have offered 28 year old Cedric Soares, who was dumped by Southampton, a 4 year contract to be back up. He hasn't played a game for us. Lost for words. An extra year for Luiz and spending £15 million on Pablo Mari aren't much better