At his press conference on Thursday morning ahead of the Premier League clash with West Brom, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger refused to answer any more questions over the protests against his position in the hot seat.

The Frenchman, who has been in charge at The Emirates for over twenty years, claimed that every press conference he has done in recent weeks seems to have been on protests and that he was not prepared to talk about it any longer.

Whilst there have been demonstrations outside their north London home, numbering between 100-300 Gunners fans, there has been little heard within The Emirates against the long-serving manager.

Furthermore, the former Monaco boss has given no clues on which way his decision will go come the end of the season. Wenger has, on the table and ready to sign, the offer of a two year extension in north London, however, will not reveal his decision just yet.

Some are certain that this is it for Le Prof, however, as this Arsenal season has seemingly followed the blue print of all past seasons in recent years, it would be far from surprising to see Wenger at the helm once again come the opening day of next term.

With that in mind, the powers that be in north London will have to be looking at ways to turn the club’s fortunes upward in the 2017/18 campaign, aside from a change at the top.

Over the past few years Arsenal have begun to spend again. After the barren years following the move from Highbury, deals for Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka saw Wenger writing big cheques in order to compete with the other big spenders in the upper echelons of the Premier League but they need to kick their spending and ambition up another serious notch.

While it is clearly not easy to sign truly world-class players, Arsenal just have not been the same since they let Thierry Henry go to Barca for a crazily low fee. With the French and Arsenal legend in the side plus a genuinely quality supporting cast, the Gunners were always capable of winning any game against any side and they had a player who could change any game and was capable of winning the European Golden Boot each season and scoring 30+ goals. Yes Henry-esque players are not in plentiful supply but Arsenal need a player of his ilk and then they would have no problem signing other ready-made, world-class stars to compliment him.

Clearly, their efforts in the transfer market have not been quite enough. Whilst Wenger may feel that he can create a title winning squad with what he’s got – he has had a tough time of it! It may be wise to take the approach of some incoming managers this season, without having to change the existing boss but just maybe they need to sign a player like Henry and add others of similar quality – with candidates being Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Müller, Gareth Bale, Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marco Verratti, Angel Di Maria, Mats Hummels, Arturo Vidal, Marco Reus, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema to name a few. Clearly it will not be easy to sign such players (a major understatement to say the least as many will not want to leave their current clubs or want to be sold by their clubs) but these are the types of players Arsenal might need to sign.

The likes of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola in Manchester arrived in the summer and instantly went about axing those not up to the standard required for a top European side and, whilst neither are yet truly competing for the title of the Premier League, there has been clear improvements from the efforts of their respective predecessors.

It may well be time for Wenger to look at his peers and take on some of their ideas, before picking through his squad with a steely mentality and cutting those who are clearly not up to facing the rigours of a title challenge.

It has become increasingly apparent that for Wenger to pick up one final big title before handing over the reins an unprecedented summer of spending is needed. Should Wenger act on that reality in the next window, Arsenal fans may finally have something to truly celebrate in a year’s time but it could take a major squad overhaul, a mega investment in that overhaul and a 180 degree change in approach by the club or maybe next year things will fall into place with just a couple of  serious additions.