Former England professional footballer, Paul Merson has advised Arsenal to sign at least five players in the summer as the current squad is “not good enough.”

The Gunners are currently fifth in the Premier League and ten points below fourth-placed Tottenham.

They suffered a 3-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday against Manchester City.

Asked what Arsenal need following the desperate defeat to Manchester City last weekend, Merson told Sky Sports, “You tell me what they don’t need? That might be easier.

“They need a goalkeeper. Petr Cech was great, but he’s not great anymore. They need central defenders.

“You can always get by with full backs, so they are not high on the agenda. They need two holding midfield players and they need another centre forward. They basically need a whole new spine of the team.

“Without a good, solid spine you are never going to win the Premier League. This is not anything new either. I’ve been saying this every year for the last 10 years.

“Merson added: ‘It’s very simple because the players are not good enough to play for Arsenal Football Club. But whoever brought them in, they are not good enough either.

“There now has to be change and for whoever takes it now it was one of the top jobs in world football. It’s not the top job now.

“With what they need and how far they are behind, it’s going to take three, four, five years to catch back up and nowadays, managers get two or three years tops.

“For me, I just don’t see how any new manager can see a job like that through. The change needed now has just become far too much.

“The job is now a four-year plan to get back to anywhere near where they once were. It’s a very worrying situation.”