Tony Adams tells talkSPORT: Arsenal won’t win title and could end up MID-TABLE if they lose Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil
Tony Adams has warned Arsenal could end up a mid-table team if they lose Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
Arsene Wenger has signed a new two-year conract to extend his 21-year reign as manager but the future of two of his key players is less clear.
Sanchez and Ozil are approaching the final 12 months of their deals and the club have so far been unable to get them to extend their stays, with both players reported to be demanding £350,000-a-week.
Adams has already made it clear he sees little chance of Arsenal of ending their 13-year title drought under Wenger and told talkSPORT on Friday that his old club will fall even further behind if they don't keep their top stars.
In an lengthy interview on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, the Gunners legend said: "I don't see him building a championship-winning team.
"The league doesn't lie. They have come fifth this year and they need extra recruits to go forward.
"Manchester City are going to get stronger, Manchester United are going to get stronger, Tottenham are going to get stronger. There are teams that are going to go past them.
"If they lose Sanchez and Ozil, I think they could be mid-table. I don’t see them improving."
Arsenal won the FA Cup for a record seventh time under Wenger last weekend, but Adams said: "Cup games are different. You can do it in a one-off. Portsmouth: we won the FA Cup in 2008.
"You can get up for these one-off occasions but over the course of the season they have been found wanting. Will it improve over the next few years? I don’t think it will."
Adams insists he admires Wenger for the job he has done over the past two decades, but expressed his disappointment with the Frenchman's decision to stay on at the club.
The ex-England captain, who won two of his four league titles with Arsenal under Wenger, said: "I think it will be very sad if it crumbles around him.
"He has been so successful, he is such a great man, and I want everyone to remember Arsene Wenger as the best. He is at the moment, without doubt.
"If he would have gone after Chelsea at the weekend, everyone all week would be saying what a magnficent man he is."