Arsenal exited the Europa League recently, which for the club is another closed path to the Champions League. According to Gunners boss, Mikel Arteta, failure to qualify again to UCL could lead to a major overhaul of the team roster as key players might decide to leave.
With the Europa League now shuttered on the Gunners, the only way for Arteta's side to compete in the European championship is to finish the season inside of the Premier League's Top 4. But with eight points separating the club with Chelsea, which occupies No. 4, such a scenario seems a remote possibility for now.
Arteta said not competing in the UCL for three consecutive seasons is bad business for the club. And when that happens, he will be forced to make the tough decisions. For starters, the team will have to undergo restructuring.
"The damage caused by the club not being in the Champions League for the third season is really big," the Spanish manager was reported by Talk Sport as saying.
Per the same report, Arsenal recorded a deficit of £27.1 million in the last season, and the result was directly affected by the Gunners missing out on Champion League qualifications in the last two years. If the team will be shut out of the elite competition anew, it is expected that the worrying trend will only continue.
"Financially the impact is enormous because the structure of this club is built to be in the Champions League and you can sustain that for one year or two, but then after you have to start making decisions," said the Arsenal boss.
Metro said Arsenal will see the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka ending their contract in 2021 and negotiating for an extension could prove difficult. Either the club will be short of cash to make tempting offers, or these players will just elect to move out without the prospect of playing in the Champions League.
Also, rumors persist that Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil are keen to leave, and Arteta might just give these players, both holders of expensive contracts, their wishes, which will be part of the hard decisions that Arteta will need to make soon.
"We will have to make decisions one way or the other depending on the scenario we find ourselves, whether we are in the Champions League, Europa League or nowhere near that," the head coach was reported as saying.
Arteta said Arsenal would need to deal with difficulties due to missteps in the past, and he was well aware that such will be the case when he took over from Unai Emery.
"We've been in that situation because we haven't performed as well as the other top four clubs have been doing. That's the reality and we have to face that reality face to face and try to make the best decisions," the manager explained.
