Arsenal have failed to qualify for the Champions League in each of the past three seasons.
And they do not look like fixing that problem this season, already eight points adrift of the top four after just 12 games.
Arsenal supporters have long felt that while Stan Kroenke is in charge, they will struggle to compete with the spending power of the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
Kroenke took complete control of the Gunners in August 2018, but has never won over the supporters, who have criticised him for not putting money into the club to make them a super power in English and European football.
And football finance expert Kieran Maguire has explained what the Gunners supporters have been fearful of in an analysis of Premier League spending.
Maguire, who wrote the Price of Football and specialises in the financial aspects of our beautiful game, has taken a look at the gross spend on transfers for every club that has been in the Premier League since its inception in 1992.
And given the huge increase in transfer fees in the past decade, it is unsurprising to see a number of clubs in the billions for transfer signings.
However, the results show just where Arsenal are in terms of the other big six clubs, and highlight the problems the Gunners have when it comes to finishing in the top four every year.
As you can see, Arsenal are well behind Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and now Liverpool too in terms of gross spend on players, with the Reds having spent more than £600million on players in the last six seasons alone.
Arsenal's gross spend of £1.049billion pales in comparison to Liverpool's total of £1.452billion and the Reds are only the fourth highest spenders in the Premier League.
Manchester United have spent £1.622billion, while rivals City have dished out £1.771 billion on players.
Chelsea are the biggest spenders though, spending almost £2billion on players since the Premier League began.
