Ian Wright says Arsenal are suffering from mistakes made by former senior staff members.
The Gunners legend believes the situation regarding Aaron Ramsey, who was allowed to run down his contract and join Juventus, could have been avoided and reckons the Gunners have never truly replaced former vice-chairman David Dein.
Ivan Gazidis and Sven Mislintat, chief executive and head of recruitment respectively, have both left Arsenal over the past 18 months.
And Wright has suggested his old club – who last won the Premier League in 2004 – have not been managed off the field in the right way.
He told talkSPORT: “Decisions were being made, in respect of Aaron Ramsey’s contract, before it was starting to run down and were being made by people who were no longer there.
“They’ve gone on to pastures new and left Arsenal in a little bit of a mess.
“In the contracts they’ve given people, it was very top heavy in the squad and we can see that in the way the guys are performing.
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“As much as Arsenal have to take a massive amount of blame for that, there was a stage where they must have known he was not going to sign.
“So we are talking about a £60million player that should have been a case of ‘OK, we will have to sell you now’ and not let it get to a stage where it has got to.
“You have to look at Aaron Ramsey as well. He’s getting to a situation in his career where he can run down a contract and Arsenal made him an offer that was a good offer but when you consider what he has been able to get and has been documented he has got, then there’s no way are you going to be able to match that.
“If he knew he was going to get that there was no way he was going to sign.”
Ian Wright talks about England's third place finish at the Nations League
Wright thinks the problems at the Gunners can be traced back to when David Dein left the club.
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Dein, who brought in Arsene Wenger as manager in 1996, left Arsenal in 2007 after falling out with the board amid a takeover bid from Stan Kroenke.
“With David Dein going, that was the beginning of the end,” Wright added. “That is a problem. That is a massive problem.
“He’s the kind of person, in respects of football and knowledge and vision and love for the club, who you can’t afford to lose.”
The 55-year-old believes it will be an interesting summer for the north London club with plenty of unanswered questions ahead of next season.
“I remember having arguments with Arsenal fans on the drive time show trying to say to them ‘we are in danger here’, ‘we are going to be in problems like thinking about finishing fourth’ and ‘are we going to be challenging any more?’
“I remember saying those things but people don’t want to hear it at the time and we are in that situation now.
“Right now Arsenal are in a position where it is interesting what is going to happen in the summer without the money to spend or qualifying for the Champions League and going back into the Europa League. Have the players improved? Has the mentality improved? What system is he going to play now?
“There’s a lot of questions to be asked and you just have to hope something happens.”