Arsenal were the only club in the top five divisions in Europe not to buy a single outfield player in this summer transfer window, as Arsene Wenger decided against making a move, owing to, in his own words "a paucity of top-quality players in the market."
Naturally, after such a quiet transfer window, the knives were going to come out, with two Arsenal legends and another former Arsenal player pretty much saying the lack of transfer activity means the North London club will not win the English Premier League title this season.
"Right now they are already five points behind [Manchester] City, still have not won at home, won two games by an own goal, which is actually their best goalscorer at the moment," said the Arsenal great Thierry Henry said.
"It does not look right now like they are going to win the league like this. But I think Arsene believes he can win the league with that team and that team is good enough. And that is his prerogative.
"I think he should have tried to bring players and I think he did try, it could not happen, but I still think that team needed some players."
While the likes of Manchester City, already on a tear this season, and Manchester United spent over £100million each on transfers, Arsenal's business in the entire window came down to one signing – the £11m move of Petr Cech from Chelsea.
Arsenal might already have a squad good enough to, if not win, compete for the title, but what cannot be doubted is that signing a Karim Benzema or Robert Lewandowski or one of the Bender brothers, would have increased those chances of a trophy considerably.
And at the end of the day, that is what it is about isn't it -- giving yourself as big a chance as possible of winning trophies. "Arsenal, if they went and paid £80m for Benzema, they'd get him," former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson told Sky Sports News. "Now why not pay it?'
"They've got the money there, go on, win the Premier League and be an absolute massive threat in the Champions League.
"They haven't done any of that and I feel the fans are getting cheated a little bit because they're playing top dollar and they're not bringing anyone in.
"I mean, £10million [for the whole transfer window]. That's like Accrington Stanley buying someone for £100."
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown, like Henry, a part of the "Invincibles" squad that won the title unbeaten in 2004, also feels Wenger might have missed a trick by not signing any marquee names in this transfer window.
"I feel it's a missed opportunity, because the Premier League, without Manchester City there, is almost there for the taking," Keown was quoted by the Metro.
"If you could put it together now and go on a run, then you can do something. Arsenal might go on a run anyway, but it's probably unlikely.
"There's a frustration now because they had to lower their expectations because of the expenditure on the stadium, now there's no excuse in those terms.
"But the top players don't seem to be available, or Arsenal don't want to spend those fees on those players."
