Owen Hargreaves Believes Arsenal Lack X-Factor To Win Champions League

Lack of Experience and Squad Depth Hurting Arsenal's Chances

Former Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves stated that he thinks Arsenal are not yet ready to win the Champions League due to a lack of experience and squad depth.

Despite a strong start to the season, Hargreaves said he thinks the Gunners are not yet ready to challenge for Europe's top prize.

Speaking on BT Sport, Hargreaves said: "I think they're a good team, they've got a good young manager, but I don't think they've got the depth to win the Champions League.

"They've got some good players, but they need more experience. They need a player who can be the difference in big games and I did not see that tonight."

"I think they're a good team, but not enough to win Champions League.

Arsenal have not won European Cup or Champions League since 1994 and their only final appearance since then was in 2006.

Hargreaves also believes Arsenal's summer transfer activity was not strong enough.

"I think Arsenal had a good transfer window, but they did not do enough." Hargreaves said.

"They needed to sign a world-class striker and they did not do that."

"They signed [Gabriel] Jesus, who is a good player, but I don't think he is a world-class striker."

"I think they needed to sign a player like [Erling] Haaland or [Kylian] Mbappe, and they did not do that."

"I think that will come back to haunt them in the Champions League."

Arsenal begin their 2022/23 Champions League campaign on Wednesday, September 7 with a home match.

The Gunners were drawn in Group A and also Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and FC Zurich.