Whilst the football world eagerly followed the exciting Euro 2016 campaign, Premier League sides began readying their preparations for the season ahead.

Potential strugglers began identifying ways to remain in the league whilst some of the top dogs began pulling the strings needed to bring world class talent to their clubs. But in one area in particular in North London, it's been exceptionally quiet.

As we've come to expect over the past five years or so, Arsenal have been slow out of the gates in pre-season in a number of areas, most notably, in terms of transfers. By no means is the attempt to bring big names to the Emirates a race, but with just a couple of weeks between Arsenal and their first opponents Liverpool, there has been little to shout about.

In Ibrahimovic, Bailly and Mkhitaryan, Manchester United have been quick to add big names to their squad this summer. Chelsea haven't hesitated either, spending a whopping £63million on just Michy Batshuayi and N'Golo Kante alone- two of Europe's emerging stars.

Manchester City have been a little quieter than we perhaps expected, but as always, we expect the Citizens to splash the cash if they feel the need to. Established stars Ilkay Gundogan and Nolito have been acquired ahead of Pep Guardiola's debut Premier League season, and we expect it to be an exciting season at the Etihad.

It all leaves the mood at Arsenal feeling a little sombre. They were quick to add dynamic Swiss international Granit Xhaka to the side before the Euros begun, with Takuma Asado and Rob Holding also coming in. But all in all, Wenger's summer activity has just got the feeling of tameness etched all over it.

When you add this to Ivan Gazidis' comments this week that "the club cannot compete with their Premier League rivals over transfer fees because they can't afford to make huge mistakes", it's not looking too exciting for the Gunners and they could quickly fall behind.

Whilst its important to understand that Arsenal's success in the upcoming campaign isn't dependant on what clubs around them are doing, the likes of United, Chelsea, City and even Liverpool are taking strides to seriously improve their squads.

It's gearing up to be one of the most exciting Premier League campaigns we've ever seen. We'll see Leicester attempt to defend the most unlikely of titles, Jurgen Klopp's first full season in charge of Liverpool and the energy of Mourinho and Conte in the league for the first time.

But at Arsenal? It just seems same old same old. Been there done it.

Like it or not, football is becoming a game increasingly centred around money, and there is little we can do about it. But when one of Arsenal's biggest players suggest they cannot compete financially, you can't help but chuckle. Two of Arsenal's biggest shareholders are two of the richest men in the world with Stan Kroenke being worth around $7.7billion and Alisher Usmanov $13.9billion.

It's not about funding, it's about optimism, having a vision and being ruthless. Whilst we've seen late transfer activity from Arsenal in the past, many feel Arsenal are falling victim to the modern-day footballing era.

But when it comes down to it, they only have themselves to blame.

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