What next for Arsenal?

Gael Clichy (centre) has already left Arsenal, with Samir Nasri (left) and Cesc Fabregas (right) expected to follow him

"I really believe if you are a player who thinks only about money, then you end up at Manchester City."

Those the words of Gael Clichy, the then-Arsenal left-back, in 2009, speaking after ex-Gunners man Emmanuel Adebayor made the move to Eastlands.

Fast-forward two years though, and Clichy has himself joined City, leaving behind an Arsenal side that have now gone six years without a trophy.

He now appears to have had a U-turn with his views on City. After signing, he said: "I think anything is possible with this team. There is no limit. You need to have a big squad to go all the way. That is why I joined City. I joined because I want to win things."

Clichy criticised players who joined City in the past

So what has changed in the last two years to force this major turnaround in Clichy's beliefs?

The short answer is an awful lot.

City won the FA Cup last season, qualified for the Champions League for the first time, finished ahead of Arsenal in the table and have continued to show their ambition by flexing their considerable financial muscle in the transfer market.

Arsenal, meanwhile, appear no nearer to ending their trophy drought.

They lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, had an almighty collapse in the Premier League title race, still appear reluctant to splash out on big name players in the transfer market and, perhaps most importantly of all, look set to lose their two star players this summer, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

Fabregas and Nasri reportedly want to leave Arsenal

City may lose their biggest star this summer too, with Carlos Tevez desperate for a move away, but the difference here is that you know he will be replaced with a quality player more than capable of stepping into his boots. With Arsenal, you cannot be so sure.

Fabregas will go to Barcelona but Nasri could go to City, Manchester United or Chelsea, all Premier League rivals of Arsenal, while City wouldn't dare sell Tevez to someone in the same league. If Clichy and Nasri are both playing for Premier League clubs (but not Arsenal) next season, the Gunners could live to regret that decision big time.

The truth is that Manchester City is a much more viable option than Arsenal for players now.

The club is clearly going places and only look set to continue improving, so they can now match what players want not only with wages but also with their ambitions on the pitch.

Clichy was right with his comments in 2009 but players who join City now can see success waiting for them. It is no longer just about the money.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are becoming less attractive for players year on year.

If Fabregas and Nasri leave, there will be a distinct lack of stardust in their team next season and their top four place is sure to be under threat.

City, Manchester United and Liverpool have already paid hefty sums for players this summer while Chelsea and Tottenham appear sure to follow suit, so if Arsenal do not act quickly they could find themselves sixth next season.

Arsene Wenger is sure to be extremely frustrated with recent developments

Of course, Arsene Wenger would do his utmost to replace any key players who leave but where is he going to find someone the quality of Fabregas? Or Nasri? Or even Clichy?

The truth is that Arsenal are destined to be significantly weaker next season.

Critics have knocked them from pillar to post in this close-season and it's only going to get worse. They are becoming a stepping stone club and need to halt this alarming trend now.

In the past, Wenger has brought in great players, watched them flourish and then sold them when they got past their sell-by date. Prominent examples of this are Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg.

Now, however, he is selling his players before they even reach their prime.

Fabregas and Nasri will leave the Emirates with their best years surely still ahead of them while Clichy has left aged 25. Others like Emmanuel Adebayor and Mathieu Flamini were also sold before their 26th birthday so Arsenal have become a selling club.

All the talk surrounding Fabregas and Nasri has reportedly unsettled other players too.

Robin van Persie is in line to pick up the captaincy if Fabregas leaves but he has just two years left on his contract and will be in the same situation as Clichy and Nasri this time next year.

van Persie was a key player for Arsenal last season

Theo Walcott's contract also expires two years from now and he is said to be interesting Chelsea, so Wenger must now stamp his authority and insist no more players leave.

When Fabregas and Nasri depart, there will be a lack of big names for fans to latch onto so the likes of van Persie and Walcott simply must stay. Selling five key players in one transfer window would be nothing but suicide.

Arsenal still have quality young players, like Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, but they must have experienced players around them or this will just turn into a circle for Arsenal.

They faced a similar situation just four or five years ago when the side lacked experience and now they look set to be in the same situation again. Wenger must sign experienced players to stop the cycle starting again.

Just last year Patrice Evra derided Arsenal by calling the club nothing more than a "football training centre", and it is hard to argue with his sentiment now.

Evra has been outspoken about Arsenal in the past

Evra praised the way they play football but insisted no-one would remember that in years to come, they will only remember the teams who won titles.

People are queuing up to have a pop at the Gunners now, so much so that the usually-quiet-as-a-mouse Paul Scholes this week described Arsenal's pretty football as "pointless" when they are not winning anything, while also going on to say they "flatter to deceive".

When Scholes is lining up to have a go at you, you know you are in trouble so Wenger must do something this summer to halt the slide.

He should certainly have the money to do so, with somewhere around £70million to be brought in through player sales alone.

Wenger should also have significant money left over from previous transfer windows in which he didn't spend and that will be complimented by TV and Champions League money, so he really has no excuses not to spend money now.

He should get the Fabregas and Nasri sagas out of the way quickly to begin with. If both players want to go, he should sell them as anything else would merely be delaying the inevitable and upsetting the players genuinely committed to the club.

He then simply needs to go on a spending spree.

There is growing fan discontent at the rise in ticket prices at the Emirates so Arsenal need to justify that by bringing in big-name players.

Wenger has so far brought in 19-year-old Carl Jenkinson from Charlton as well as Barcelona teenagers Hector Bellerin and Jan Toral, but what Gunners fans really want is a batch of players who can bring them success next season.

Jenkinson was Arsenal's first summer signing

Lille's Gervinho looks certain to join in the coming days and he is the type of signing to excite fans, while if the club can also capture the likes of Aly Cissokho, Gary Cahill, Juan Mata and Mathieu Valbuena they will be taking significant steps in the right direction.

They will probably need to bring in more than five players though, with a number of fringe players needing to be replaced.

Nicklas Bendtner and Denilson look set to leave while Andrei Arshavin has also been heavily linked with a move away, so a major rebuilding job needs to take place.

Denilson has expressed his desire to leave Arsenal this summer

This is undoubtedly Wenger's greatest test since becoming Arsenal manager but even his past successes can not save him if he doesn't deliver silverware next season.

Great players need to be brought in to give them any chance but the reality is even a top four place seems a distant dream.

A full season from Thomas Vermaelen will be key but Arsenal do not look in any position to progress at the moment.

To complicate matters further, Alex Song is reportedly facing a potential two-year jail sentence after a bar brawl in Cameroon.

There are so many problems and so much uncertainty surrounding the Gunners now and the fear is this could just be the tip of the iceberg.

With van Persie and Walcott set to have just one year left on their contracts this time next year, the same old problems look set to arise again.

Walcott has been linked with a move to Chelsea

It is crazy that a club of Arsenal's size allows players to get so perilously close to the end of their contracts. Key players should be given new contracts well in advance of their old ones coming to an end to avoid situations just like this.

Despite all this, perhaps it is not all doom and gloom.

If Wenger spends the money correctly, Arsenal could yet have a formidable team next season.

Perhaps we should judge their transfer business only when the window slams shut.

Wenger has done a miraculous job over the years at Arsenal - despite their six-year trophy drought and lack of spending - and he should just be allowed to get on with it.

There will be a niggling thought at the back of his mind that he should have left in 2004, though.

He could have had his pick of jobs around the world then, with his reputation sky-high after Arsenal's 'Invincibles' campaign, where they went the entire season unbeaten.

Now though, his image has gone from simply The Professor to The Nutty Professor, so he may feel he should have left the club on a high after the unbeaten campaign.

Wenger has grown increasingly frustrated over the years

He stayed because he thought he could deliver the Champions League but he must now look back and wish he left then.

He knows another season without a trophy now would leave his position almost untenable so he is under intense pressure to deliver quality signings.

With Clichy already leaving this summer and Fabregas and Nasri set to join him, hungry players are seeing no future of winning trophies at the Emirates.

Top players no longer want to spend their prime years there and Wenger knows his club is on the slide unless he does something very quickly.

This is the Frenchman's greatest test and it would not be a very wise bet to predict him to pass it.