Laurent Koscielny feels Arsenal's recruitment over the close-season will be key to the side mounting a sustained Premier League title challenge in 2016-17.
The Gunners finished second in the previous campaign, although it was a whopping 10 points behind shock champion Leicester City.
It was another season of frustration for the club, Koscielny concedes, but the France international is confident that with some shrewd acquisitions it can end its 15-year wait for a Premier League title.
"Yes it's a disappointment. We finished second, but if you look at the whole season, we can have regrets," he told Omnisport.
"I think this year we had the means to compete with the other teams to win this title. But our results were inconsistent, especially in February and March, when we won very few games, and we took very few points.
"It was tough, but we have to keep the positive from this season to learn from it, and start a nice season next year, with probably some new players that will allow us to reach another level and have more consistent results."
Arsenal's failure to win a major trophy in 2015-16 caused some sections of support to call for Arsene Wenger to leave, but Koscielny came out in defence of his manager and compatriot.
"The boss has seen it all, he's been for many years at the club. I think we owe him a lot," Koscielny said.
"At least, I owe him very much, I have a lot of respect for the coach, but as well for the man. He's a very nice guy. I understand the frustration of the fans because we did not win the title for a long time, but I think that Arsene did some amazing things in this club.
"He helped it grow, now we have a beautiful stadium, our facilities are unbelievable…it's up to us, the players, to do what's necessary on the pitch to win these titles.
"But I think that Arsene is a very good coach, and he's still the man for the job."
Comments
SHARE