Former Gunner, Emmanuel Petit, believes that Arsenal need to break their salary cap in order to entice big players to the Emirates.

After Arsenal’s move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, Arsene Wenger and the board noticeably tightened their purse strings. The club’s top stars were sold, even to rivals, and the players who were brought in were usually unheard of.

Sometimes they turned out to be diamonds, like Laurent Koscielny; often they didn’t.

The signings of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in 2014 and Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona a year later were supposed to mark a turning point. However, the club still appears to be playing catch-up and isn’t yet able to pack the financial punch in the transfer market that most fans were expecting.

Petit believes that if Arsenal are going to attract big players, they’re going to have to learn to compete financially.

“I think there are too many people that forget what he has done for Arsenal in the last 20 years,” the former Arsenal and Chelsea star told bwin.

“I want Arsene to stay at the club and I wanted him to be supported financially.  I understand the fans’ frustrations and the frustration of players like Sanchez with his comments lately, but Arsenal have had to be very very careful over the last 10 years due to the bank loan for the Emirates Stadium. They have been shy in the transfer window and traditionally have run with a salary cap.

“That’s why this summer, without Champions League football, Arsenal have a big decision to make when it comes to the transfer market. If you want to send a message to top players to come and join Arsenal, the fact you aren’t in the Champions League doesn’t help. To make up for this, you have to compete financially and put your chequebook on the table. You must break the salary cap but I am not sure Arsenal are willing to do that. It’ll be interesting to see how they plan to compete in the transfer market.”

The Gunners no longer have the pull of Champions League football and Wenger’s name doesn’t carry the weight that it once did.

They have to give players some incentives or they’re only going to sign for a club that WILL pay them £200k-per-week without batting an eyelid and CAN offer them Champions League football.