The empire is crumbling.
How Arsenal got themselves into such a mess on the eve of deadline day is anyone’s guess.
Scrambling around, trying to find a last-minute replacement for Alexis Sanchez when they have known about it all summer is ridiculous.
They have been forced to sell Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool, because the player would not sign a new contract and believes he will be better off at Anfield than the Emirates.
Young players used to want to work with Arsene Wenger.
Now they see Arsenal as a sinking ship and want to go elsewhere.
The Gunners are upset with Oxlade-Chamberlain over the way it has all been handled but there have been times when he has been equally upset with them — not picked, not given any reason for his omission, constantly subbed and career stalling.
It’s a two-way street.
Sanchez wants to leave. He will not ask for a transfer, but wants out.
You could see it in his performance at Liverpool on Sunday, the way he has trained and his attitude at the training ground.
And without Sanchez, Arsenal look bang-average.
When Kieran Gibbs’ transfer to West Brom was announced earlier on Wednesday, several wags on Twitter joked the Gunners should not be selling to a direct rival.
In typical Arsenal fashion, they are now facing a bitter fan backlash — the supporters fear they are hurtling towards mid-table mediocrity.
And it really is that bad.
The players fear it, board members fear it and their decision to give Wenger a new two-year contract this summer now looks a terrible and costly mistake.
They were not good enough last season, they are weaker now.
It is a mess.
The players are looking on in horror, with the club in serious danger of seeing the foundations collapse.
Losing your star player on Deadline Day is the sign of a selling club, not one challenging for major trophies. It is also the sign of a club that is badly organised, that cannot get transfers and contracts done.
Transfer deadline days have always been chaotic in the Wenger era. He is, after all, a manager renowned for indecision and leaving everything until the last minute.
But the steady, sorry decline in the past few seasons is now in danger of falling off the graph because while their rivals have all spent big, Arsenal are on course to be in profit.
They have spent much of the summer putting all their energies into offloading players to try to balance the books, getting the wage bill in order before then bringing better players in.
Now they cannot even give them away.
Mathieu Debuchy looks marooned, despite Arsenal making him available on a free.
Shkodran Mustafi is set to stay. They are struggling to offload Lucas Perez and forgotten man Joel Campbell.
They had a chance to sign Monaco midfielder Thomas Lemar but dithered while they tried to get players off the books. Now it is too late and other clubs have come in.
Arsenal’s only signings have been Alexandre Lacazette and free-agent Sead Kolasinac, when last season showed the squad needed a major overhaul, not just a couple of sticking plasters.
When he signed his new contract, the idea was for change and Wenger reinventing himself.
It now looks a broken promise.
It's a complete mess.
But sadly not unexpected.