Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has warned Arsenal that they have to show ambition in the transfer market this summer or they risk losing some of their young stars in the near future.
The Gunners managed to finish fifth in the Premier League with a younger squad (on average) than anyone else. Although they missed out on the Champions League by two points, there's plenty to build upon next season and with a big window, they should able to compete for top four once again under Mikel Arteta.
However, Ferdinand has warned the Gunners and the likes of technical director Edu that the club need to match their young players' ambition in the market. If they do, the former England centre-back thinks their young stars will stay at the club for a long time.
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He said on Vibe with Five: "I think Arsenal have to do well in the next window, I think he’s put down some decent foundations. What he has got is a nucleus of young players who know what it means to play for Arsenal and who have talent, some very good players that need building around with better players.
"I think you need to have [that], as long as the club’s aspirations match yours, then that comes with what type of players you recruit. 'Are we recruiting to finish in the Champions League or are we recruiting to finish in the Europa League?’ if they match yours, you stay for a good period."
Ferdinand continued by comparing his own experiences as a young star at West Ham to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard at the Emirates.
"I was at West Ham and I was going into the chairman every summer ‘who are we buying? We’ve got a great young playing squad coming through, me, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson, Defoe, my brother etc. Just buy some players please. No, no, no we’re going to continue with what we’re doing.’ When you’re a young kid and someone comes in for you it’s an easy decision to make but if the club have the same ambition as you and want to go on and do things, I don’t know see none of them going."
Luckily for Arsenal fans, it looks as though the club are planning on matching their young players' ambition in the coming weeks and months. In fact, technical director Edu has already told supporters to be excited moving forward.
"The budget we used last summer, we prefer to use it to rebalance the squad, there was no point in hiring one or two players [in January], the squad was not prepared to absorb two players, we needed to rebalance the squad," he told ESPN Brasil last month. "Maybe next season we can go to one or two players.
"Today we find a much more balanced squad. Our planning has already been done, it has already reached the owners. It's a matter of step by step, how we are going to finish the season and to put in plan the planning that I'm very excited about."
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to bring in a new forward, central midfielder and winger, with several first-team players set to leave the Emirates Stadium in the coming months.
