Revealed: The 2 Key Signings Arsenal Need To Make Them Champions League Challengers

After a thrilling World Cup, our thoughts now turn to club matters and writer Gooner Mac is going to take a look at what Arsenal need to add to become Champions League challengers this season.

While the Premier League is the pinnacle of domestic football, the Champions League has become the ‘holy grail’ for many fans, and particularly Arsenal fans as we are yet to lift our first European trophy.

Let’s face it, we are perennial under achievers in the Champions League. We’ve qualified for the last 16 years with only Manchester United and Real Madrid able to beat such a record, while we’ve also progressed to the knockout stages 14 times in succession, which can only be bettered by Real Madrid.

These are truly remarkable numbers, yet we have just one Champions League final to show for it, narrowly losing out to Barcelona 2-1 back in 2006. What ever way you look at it, we should certainly have done a lot better during the knockout stages of the competition.

The 2014/15 Champions League betting is underway and once again we aren’t among the favourites with the bookmakers, and judging by our record, it’s easy to see why they don’t feel we’re going to win it.

So what does Arsene Wenger need to add to the squad for us to be taken seriously in Europe this season?

Well the signing of Alexis Sanchez has obviously given our squad a huge injection of quality and he’ll no doubt make us a far greater threat next season. While there are rumours Arsene Wenger is planning to play him through the middle, I’d prefer to see his out on the wings, to start with at least.

Therefore, ideally we need to bring in another front-man to offer more depth up front. Arsene has a soft spot for Olivier Giroud but for us to really be challengers for the Champions League, I think we need to sign a ‘marquee’ striker.

There aren’t many of those around and if reports that Karim Benzema is set to sign a new deal at Real Madrid are true, then the man I’d go for is Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan has made no secret that he’s unsettled at PSG and I think we could lure him to the Premier League this summer.

It would take a huge fee, probably in the region of £50m, but Cavani would take us to the next level and turn our team into potential Champions League winners, in my opinion.

We’ve just announced the signing of Mathieu Debuchy last night so right-back is covered, so the next position we desperately need to strengthen is central midfield. Last season we were badly exposed on counter-attacks, particularly through the middle of the park, and I think we need to bring in a powerful, athletic defensive midfielder to protect the back four.

There’s been talk of Sami Khedira but I’d prefer to see Morgan Schneiderlin come in from Southampton. He has all the characteristics we need to add to the squad and should be cheaper than Khedira is likely to be.

Therefore, if we could add Schneiderlin and Cavani, along with a back up goalkeeper and potentially another centre-back if Vermaelen leaves, then we’ll have a squad not only capable of winning the Premier League but one that could also have a shot at lifting the Champions League this season.