Rio Ferdinand has slammed Arsenal's decision to let Joe Willock join Newcastle on a permanent basis.
And the former Manchester United defender does not expect the Gunners to challenge for major honours this season as he predicts another campaign of disappointment for Mikel Arteta's side.
Twenty one-year-old midfielder Willock joined the Magpies on loan in February and made a massive impression at St James' Park, scoring eight times in 14 Premier League appearances.
Despite calls from Arsenal fans for him to be given an opportunity in north London, Willock now looks set to return to Newcastle in a deal worth around £20m.
And speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand said he was baffled by Arsenal's willingness to let such a talented player go.
"I don’t know how Arsenal have let Joe Willock go," he said. "The guy scores goals from midfield man. I really like him.
"I don’t understand that. Newcastle have done unbelievable well to get him by the way, I think he’s a really good talent.
"He scores goals, he expects to score, he’s a good mover, makes good runs."
Arsenal kick off their new Premier League campaign with a trip to Brentford on Friday, and have been busy in the transfer window, bringing in full-back Nuno Tavares, midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga and centre-back Ben White so far.
But despite their strengthening, Ferdinand still does believe they possess the fear factor that Arsenal teams of the past had.
He continued: "With Arsenal, I know they’re building and Arteta is trying to build something and he’s setting the foundations there, but they’re in no man’s land.
"They’re not a threat to anybody. You don’t consider them a real threat at all and it’s not just the Arsenal that I played against with Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole.
"It’s just a very different time now for Arsenal. It’s sad to see because I really like Arsenal."
Meanwhile, Arteta was impressed with White's debut showing despite the 1-0 friendly defeat to Tottenham at the weekend.
Speaking after the game, the Spaniard said: "He was really good. But again, it’s a match where they haven’t played.
"Some of them they’ve [only] trained for four or five days. So you can still see and we didn’t want to risk many more, but it was a good start.
"To lose any game [and] to lose against them obviously even more. Take the positives and learn and for the next time be more prepared and better.
"We took a lot of good things. We played with a lot of kids as well who did extremely well today, so I think it’s good for the preparation."
