Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has been told he needs to spend in excess of £250million this summer to ensure his club's progress this season doesn't go to waste.
For so long, Mikel Arteta's side appeared destined for a glorious Premier League title win, only for their challenge to completely unravel amid a run of just nine points in seven games. Their hopes were all but mathematically ended on Sunday, amid a harrowing 3-0 defeat to Brighton at the Emirates.
Amid their faltering form, the depth of the Gunners' first squad has been exposed, with an injury to centre back William Saliba in February proving pivotal. And now Simon Jordan, former owner of Crystal Palace, has warned Kroenke he can forget another title charge if he doesn't put his hand in his pocket imminently.
"To be able to even get a waft of wrestling this Premier League away from City, I think we’re talking £250 million-plus on new players but it has to be spent well," wrote Jordan, in his weekly Mail Sport column. "They need centre forwards, centre backs and central midfielders and need to ensure William Saliba’s contract is extended beyond the year he has left. They need to find upgrades wherever they can and Arteta must be forensic, ruthless and honest. He can have no falsely placed loyalty."
The North London club have been linked with a string of big names, including Declan Rice, Cancelo, and Moises Caicedo. But Jordan, who also took aim at the American for being "a billionaire seemingly comfortable with footballing mediocrity," argued it was a goalscorer that needed to be the priority.
"Kroenke, if truly desiring success, must give Arteta substantial money to find someone who can score them 25-30 goals," he added. "He needs a deeper, better squad to ensure the substitutes coming on are as good as those they are replacing. If that investment manifests itself, this season will not have been wasted. If it doesn’t, then I struggle to see how Arsenal will maintain what they have achieved, let alone progress."
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Further, the talkSPORT pundit also warned that failing to strengthen the squad will render this current campaign a false dawn: "Well, now is the time to build on what could be a great platform, otherwise Arsenal could find it was all built on quicksand."
Kroenke, who also owns a string of sporting franchises in America, became the premier shareholder in the club back in April 2011, and increased his stake beyond 90% in 2018. During his tenure, Arsenal have captured the FA Cup four times - but fans still wait for a first top flight title since the 'invincible' campaign of 2003/04.
After the Brighton defeat, Arteta was visited by Josh Kroenke and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, who were both in attendance at the Emirates Stadium. Kroenke, son of Stan Kroenke, is a director at Arsenal and the vice-chairman of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) - although details of their meeting have remained private.
