Arsenal 2016-17 season review: Results, roster changes, and 2017 summer transfer targets

It’s over. Arsenal and Arsène Wenger have missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in over two decades, with the Gunners’ spring surge proving too little, too late for them to break into the top four. They finished the Premier League season with five straight victories, though a point and a place in arrears of fourth-placed Liverpool.

Their season can still be partially redeemed on the weekend, when they take on Chelsea in the final of the FA Cup. However, winning domestic trophies has never really been Arsenal’s problem; winning titles has. And this season, that elusive Premier League crown has looked as far away as it has for a long time.

Whatever happens at Wembley on Saturday, supporters are sure to be split when Wenger makes the long-awaited decision on his future — his contract is currently due to expire in the summer, though the power to renew is thought to rest with the long-serving Frenchman.

It was a very typical Arsenal season, in that much went right in the first half of the campaign. At the midway point of the season they sat on a not-too-shabby 40 points, averaging over two points per game. Had it not been for Chelsea’s freakishly good start to the season, the Gunners would’ve been considered very much in the title hunt. The Gunners were defeated at home to Liverpool on the opening day of the season, but then didn’t lose another league game until December, when they suffered back-to-back defeats at Everton and Manchester City.

From there, things began to slide, and supporters began to lose hope. In truth, looking at the Arsenal squad, it came as no real surprise. For their current rabble can be described as good but not great, and Arsenal will likely have to be uncharacteristically liberal with the splashing of cash in the summer if they’re to stand any chance of competing for the top spot next season. It’s little wonder that star man Alexis Sánchez — who appeared in every one of Arsenal’s Premier League matches this season — is pondering a move away.

The nadir of Arsenal’s season wasn’t so much the slow death of their Premier League title hopes — after all, everyone suspected Chelsea had things wrapped up before the turn of the year. Instead it was the Champions League coup de grâce dealt by Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich, who ran out 10-2 aggregate winners after 5-1 victories both home and away. It was the biggest aggregate defeat ever suffered by an English team in Europe, and precipitated the re-emergence en masse of the infamous homemade “Wenger Out” banners.

Alas, the defeat typified everything bad about Wenger’s Arsenal tenure. Even more frustrating than their tactical naivety was their abject lack of mental fortitude: When a supposed man-manager like Wenger can no longer motivate his players to perform, this seems to be the rather alarming result. It unsurprisingly raised questions about whether their players are good enough: Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka both arrived for hefty sums in the summer, both were complicit in the defeat.

It was an undeniably spectacular combustion for a team that, in retrospect, doesn’t appear to have had the attributes of a domestic and continental challenger. For that, the manager has to be held culpable.

We must admit, these are difficult times for Arsenal. If Wenger decides to stay on, it’s difficult to envisage anything other than more of the same. Their failure to win a Premier League title for so long cannot any longer be put down to misfortune; it’s a systematic failure of the coach’s tactics. It may not be until the incumbent’s eventual departure that the Gunners are really able to emerge as a serious force. For now, however, it looks almost certain that the Frenchman will stay for at least another year.

Of course, there’s the possibility of a slight improvement next season, the chance that they’ll manage to break back into the top four and set themselves up for another first-knockout-round exit in the Champions League in two seasons’ time. But as for a dramatic upturn in fortunes, a first league title since 2004, you can probably forget it.

Arsenal are currently being linked with their usual smattering of good-but-not-great players. It goes without saying that they could do with an improvement in defence, notwithstanding the imminent arrival of Schalke fullback Sead Kolašinac. Rumour has spread that the Gunners are interested in signing Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, who has been one of the best center backs in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons. It would be a fine acquisition, though it remains to be seen whether there’s fire beneath the smoke. With Chelsea also reportedly interested, Gunners supporters probably shouldn’t get too carried away.

Otherwise, the back pages don’t make for particularly pretty reading for Arsenal fans. They really need a significant improvement in midfield, a player able to dominate games in a way that none of their current crop can. But such players are few and far between, and Arsenal — in their ongoing predicament — probably aren’t the most attractive predicament. The result is that they’re instead being linked with promising youngsters like Lyon’s Corentin Tolisso and Málaga’s Pablo Fornals, who would be unlikely to register an immediate impact in the Premier League.

Similarly, none of Olivier Giroud, Lucas Pérez, and Danny Welbeck look fit to be spearheading a team with designs on the Premier League title. But longtime rumored target Alexandre Lacazette appears close to an Atlético Madrid move. Finding a striker who can improve Arsenal in his first season will be difficult. Perhaps RB Leipzig’s Tim Werner would be an ambitious, but realistic pickup.

In short, Arsenal could really do with improvement across the board, but they look very unlikely to get it.