Arsene Wenger will be handed £75m to add to his squad in the summer with the central spine of his squad being the priority, according to reports.
The Gunners are five points adrift of the Premier League summit following the 3-2 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday and are 2-0 down in the two-legged Champions League round-of-16 tie with Barcelona.
Wenger is on the look-out for new additions in the central defensive and midfield areas, report the Daily Telegraph, while a new striker could be set to join at the end of the season also.
Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, Mathieu Flamini, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky are likely to depart but Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are expected to be subject to huge new contract offers.
Meanwhile former Arsenal forward Ian Wright has heavily criticised Wenger’s current crop after their defeat at Old Trafford, a set-back which further dented their stuttering title challenge.
The Match of the Day pundit appeared to take offence to his former manager’s claim that he could not question his players’ desire or commitment in the north west.
“To hear [Wenger] saying that it’s like… I don’t know, it’s like when you’ve got naughty kids come round your house,” said Wright.
“If you let them get away with continuously doing naughty stuff, then they’re going to keep doing it. Him saying stuff like this just makes them think ‘oh, it’s ok’.
“They should be going back on the coach and thinking ‘we had an opportunity today’. It didn’t happen, they should’ve taken that opportunity.”
Fellow pundit Alan Shearer then said: “I wouldn’t like to come round your house.”
To which Wright responded: “If you’re going to be naughty round my house you’re going to have a problem.”
