By Avenell Dave

Has Andrey Arshavin been a success at Arsenal?

I don't think he has. He mesmerised us in his first half-season but after that, a couple of cameos apart, he hasn't really lived up to expectations.

This is a player who is our record signing, who is captain of his national team (no minnows) and who should have the capacity for being one of the best creative players in England.

What on earth has gone wrong?

Remember his transfer? It seemed to go on interminably and was even ratified after the transfer window had closed. Reports on Thursday suggest he will be sold this summer and if we can get back half of what we paid for him, I would be delighted.

Expect Wenger to sing his praises to keep the price up until he goes.

We all wanted him to sign, because he was a superstar, but the fact that no one else of any stature seemed to be in for him spoke volumes.

But we needed a boost and he provided it, helping us get into the Champions League and therefore paying for himself at least for a short while.

Think about other players we have been clamouring to sign.

When we were looking for a centre-back, it was Brede Hangeland, who had had a superb season at Fulham.

Have other big clubs come in for him since or has his form plateaued to something akin to fair to middling? I think we know the answer.

Don't even get me started on Mark Schwarzer...

There was a striker a few years ago who everyone was after - Marcus Berg, who was scoring goals for fun in Sweden and at U-21 tournaments and looked to be the next big thing, following in the footsteps of Martin Dahlin, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Arsenal were heavily linked with him at one point.

But since a big move to Hamburg, where he scored four goals in 35 games (compared to Chamakh's seven in 37 last season) he has now gone to PSV Eindhoven on loan where he is still struggling to make a mark.

The fact is, we can get so wrapped up in minor league statistics, in hype, in expectation that change and renewal is the only way, that we forget that people who have been there, done it and bought the t-shirt may have a better insight than us into the complexities and challenges of making signings.

We all know Arsene Wenger is particularly careful with his funds. What we don't nor may never know, is how much that is down to him and how much it is down to Board constraints.

But when the transfer market is so quiet, when even debt-laden, free-spending M*nure bring Paul Scholes out of retirement because they can't buy the reinforcements that they need, you have to begin to wonder if no one is actually doing any business of note.

Even wantaway Carlos Tevez is finding it hard to secure a deal.

Of course we need a striker and probably a creative player as well, but we cannot expect that players we have seen superficially are definitely the players we should sign. Huge amounts of research goes into each player who comes to Arsenal and more often than not, the Club gets it right.

We are all feeling low about recent results and even more about the prospect of no Champions League next season.

There's still a long way to go - and what better time to turn the tide than at home to the reigning Champions?