What exactly are Arsenal up to this season?

It has been a chaotic start to the Premier League season for Arsenal, with the Gunners stuck in
the basement of the table after the first three matches.

2-0 defeats to Brentford and Chelsea and a 5-0 hammering at the hands of champions,
Manchester City has left Gunners with zero goals and zero points in the campaign.

Many Arsenal fans are disillusioned and upset at the current state of their club, and their
activities in the summer transfer window would have done little to ease their fears over what is
to come in the next nine months.

Arsenal are going to get off the bottom of the log and improve their position through the course
of the season, but this has got the looks of another campaign spent in the obscurity of mid-
table.

Many bookmakers, including the top betting sites in Nigeria, do not expect the Gunners to get
anywhere close to a top-four finish.

Incredibly, Arsenal spent £156.8 during the transfer window, more than any other club in the
league.

However, the case at Arsenal is one of seemingly doing so much without actually doing
anything.

While Chelsea can point to strengthening their suspect forward line with the acquisition of
Romelu Lukaku and Manchester United will argue that they have improved their defence and
attack with the signings of Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsenal cannot really point
to one signing that will markedly make them better than they were prior to the window.

The Gunners spent £50 million on Ben White, who they got from Brighton and Hove Albion, £34
million on Martin Odegaard; £30 million on goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United,
£19.8 million on Japanese defender, Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna; £15 million on Albert
Sambi Lokonga; and £8 million on left-back Nuno Tavares.

While Arsenal’s summer outlay has clearly improved the depth of the squad, has it really added
any significant quality to the team?

Ben White is a promising young English defender who was considered good enough to make
the Euro squad, but he is largely unproven at the very highest level.

Arsenal need a strong commanding centre back that can actually defend and bring stability to
the backline; something that has been lacking in the team for a few years now.

White could turn out to be this missing piece, but he can also become lost in the mediocrity that
is currently circling the club.

He was great for Leeds United during his time in the Championship and was OK at Brighton.

Arsenal needs him to step up and become a proper Premier League centre back. They will hope
White can have a similar impact as Virgil van Dijk has had on Liverpool and to a lesser extent,
Harry Maguire on Manchester United.

While the investment in Ben White is partly justifiably, the rationale behind some of the other
transfers are questionable.

Why exactly are they spending £30 million on a goalkeeper from Sheffield United? Especially
when they have a clear No. 1 in Bernd Leno. Especially after they let Emiliano Martinez join
Aston Villa for £20 million a year earlier. It doesn't make much sense.

Tomiyasu is more or less like for like with Hector Bellerin; Martin Odegaard isn't too dissimilar
to Emile Smith-Rowe; Sambi Lokonga has looked neat and tidy, but he is not that midfield
enforcer that Arsenal so badly needs.

The board will argue that they have backed the manager with funds; Mikel Arteta has got a task
of putting all the pieces together and somehow lifting Arsenal out of their current mire.