REVEALED JUST NOW:Arsenal's Shock Signing May Have Played His Last Game as Starter After Underwhelming Performance vs United"

Edu is no longer at Arsenal and the Gunners are finally on the cusp of announcing his successor.

It’s safe to say that interim sporting director Jason Ayto didn’t cover himself in too much glory over the winter by signing no one but Andrea Berta, once of Atletico Madrid’s parish, will hope for greater success.

andrea-berta-arsenal-atletico-madrid

Berta has a fine record, notably being the man to sell Antoine Griezmann for over £100m. He’s also welcomed the likes of Luiz Suarez and Julian Alvarez to Atletico.

Promising signs for Arsenal, therefore, that he can spot a striker.

After another debacle at Old Trafford on Sunday, drawing 1-1 with Manchester United, that elusive forward is certainly needed.

Why Arsenal didn’t win against Manchester United

The short answer would be their lack of a forward.

The 7-1 win over PSV Eindhoven aside, Arsenal have looked toothless in the final third and in all honesty, you can’t blame Mikel Arteta or his players too much.

Crippled by injuries in attacking areas and not helped by the board’s inactivity over the winter transfer market, it is hardly a surprise that they now sit 15 points behind league leaders Liverpool.

They struggled to create clear-cut chances again on Sunday and if it wasn’t for Declan Rice and David Raya it could have been far worse.

Declan-Rice-Arsenal-Raya

Rice has looked like the proper captain in recent weeks and led by example with a monster performance over the weekend. He scored the equaliser and made a goal-saving last-man tackle to deny Rasmus Hojlund late on.

Despite some Raya heroics in the second half, denying Noussair Mazraoui a certain goal with his legs and then clawing the ball off the line following a Bruno Fernandes shot, it was the Spaniard who still could have done better.

Arsenal have been on the end of some refereeing howlers this season. Think of the Rice red card against Brighton, the William Saliba penalty decision in the reverse fixture and Leandro Trossard’s red against Manchester City. However, they were able to tick a new one off the bingo card this weekend.

That’s because the wall was 11.2 yards back from Fernandes opening free-kick goal, not the normal ten yards. It sounds pedantic but that extra yard could have made the difference. Still, the goalkeeper’s positioning was awful, leaving 3 / 4 of the goal open for the United skipper to find.

So, it was a bad day for Arsenal and it was a bad day for a lot of the players. A penny for Raheem Sterling’s thoughts, however.

Arsenal star may not start again for the club

The configuration of Arsenal’s attack since Kai Havertz’s season-ending hamstring injury has certainly been interesting.

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It all started up at the King Power stadium where a front three of Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Sterling simply didn’t work.

Merino came off the bench with a double-goal rescue act and since then, we’ve not seen the lesser-spotted Sterling start another game for Arsenal.

mikel-merino-arsenal

Truth be told, the Chelsea loanee will be lucky to ever start again in Arsenal colours, and that counts against PSV in the second leg on Wednesday.

In all honesty, Arteta is better off picking an academy player for that fixture, or as he did on Sunday, selecting Kieran Tierney.

Kieran-Tierney-Leandro-Trossard-Arsenal

The Scot’s contract expires in the summer and the club will not renew it so it speaks volumes that with Arteta chasing a goal and a win yesterday, he preferred Tierney as a substitute to Sterling at left wing. It was a positive cameo from the Scot too, who within minutes of coming on created a chance to score with a brilliant ball in from the blanks.

It must have been a kick in the teeth that even with Arsenal struggling to create chances from their domination of possession he was ignored.

When the England international arrived on loan during the summer transfer window, he stated that we were about to see the best of him. Unfortunately, it’s simply not happened for the former Manchester City man in north London.

Arsenal needed a body, they needed depth, but this has been nothing less than a failed signing. Perhaps Arteta’s worst one since he became the head coach.

His confidence looks shot to bits and as a consequence, he’s scored just once all season. That came in the Carabao Cup so it was pretty meaningless if we’re being honest.

Stering's Arsenal career in numbers

Games

22

Goals

1

Assists

2

Yellow cards

4

Minutes played

863

Starts

9

Stats via Transfermarkt.

So, with Tierney preferred, Gabriel Martinelli now back from injury and Bukayo Saka making fine progress in his own recovery, Sterling will be lucky to ever start again in Arsenal colours.

The second leg with PSV marks a fine opportunity to build some confidence but he’s not going to be here next season; prioritising Hale End should be their focus. The minutes should go to the likes of Ismeal Kabia or Nathan Butler-Oyedeji instead if Arteta chooses to give his main players a night off.