Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams says the club’s selling policy is chipping away at their credibility as one of Europe’s top sides.
Adams, who spent his entire career with the north London club, believes that allowing star players such as Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas to leave the Emirates Stadium has given other sides a poor impression of them.
“It sends out all the wrong messages for me, being a selling club,” he told the London Evening Standard.
“Piece by piece for seven years, it chips away at your credibility. Selling your best players is part of that.
“I very much see Arsenal as the biggest club in the world, so I can’t understand why anybody would want to play anywhere else – but I can understand it was very different for me.
“I am looking at it not as an ex-player or pundit, but as a fan and giving what the fans are thinking and feeling.”
The Gunners have made an impressive start to the current campaign, remaining unbeaten in all competitions with the addition of Adams’ former defensive partner Steve Bould to the Arsenal dug-out being cited for an improvement in their back-line, which has shipped just one league goal this season.
However Adams’ feels that the mentality and style of the team is not set-up to be a success.
“The problem for me in the last seven years is the defensive vulnerabilities as a team – the goalkeeper, the back four, even the central midfield players, the mentality of the team,” he added.
“I don’t think they are a team that are set up to do what Chelsea did last year in the Champions League and I don’t think Arsene wants to.
“Year in, year out the team with the best defence wins the league and we saw the team with the best defence win the Champions League, so it makes you wonder why a lot of teams aren’t focusing more on defending.”
Arsenal got their European campaign off to a good start with a win away at French champions Montpellier on Tuesday.
And despite that early win in the competition, Adams is not optimisitc about their chances of lifting the trophy for the first time at Wembley Stadium next summer.
“I expect them to score goals, but they cannot win the Champions League with their current mentality,” he said.
“I hope they prove me wrong, but against the better teams I think they will fall short again. I am not alone here – I think most of the Arsenal fans would agree with me.
“To actually think you are going to play Barcelona or Real Madrid off the pitch…I don’t think this team are good enough to do that.”