Arsenal’s failure to sign a ‘superstar’ may cost the club in Europe, says Paul Merson (Picture: Getty) Paul Merson has predicted Arsenal will fall short in the Champions League again this season after the club failed to strengthen their attack with an ‘X factor’ signing. Arsenal reached the Champions League final for only the second time in their history last term after overcoming Atletico Madrid to set up a mouthwatering clash with the holders Paris Saint-Germain. Kai Havertz struck after only six minutes to get the Gunners off to a flying start in Budapest, with Mikel Arteta’s men on course to complete the double and finally bring the club’s wait for a European trophy to an end. But Ousmane Dembele converted from the spot with 25 minutes remaining of normal time and PSG would go on to defend their title as Gabriel Magalhaes missed the decisive penalty in a nerve-shredding shootout. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. Arsenal kick off their group-stage campaign away to Napoli later this evening and confidence will be high within the group on the back of three successive victories in the Premier League against Coventry, Aston Villa and Chelsea. Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa and Christos Tzolis have all been added to Arteta’s squad in preparation for the new season, with the north Londoners splashing out around £160million on the trio. However, former Arsenal and England midfielder Merson believes the club’s failure to sign a ‘superstar’ like Vinicius Junior or Julian Alvarez will ultimately cost them in European’s premier competition. The English champions face Napoli in the Champions League this evening (Picture: Getty) Atletico Madrid star Alvarez was heavily linked with the Gunners this summer (Picture: PA) ‘Arsenal’s record last year was amazing in the Champions League up to the final,’ Merson told Sky Sports when asked about the club’s Champions League chances. ‘They’re going to be there or thereabouts, I just don’t think they bought that X factor to take them to that level. ‘I think they’ve got enough to win them the Premier League with their squad, I just think their forward line against the big boys… I just think they’re missing that little ingredient. ‘If they’d got a Vinicius Junior or a Julian Alvarez then I think that would have given them the edge to go on and win the Champions League, and I think they might just fall short. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mikel Arteta speaks before Champions League match against Napoli","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/08\/3761798954835882587\/480x270_MP4_3761798954835882587.mp4","description":"Arsenal's Mikel speaks to the press on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League match against Napoli on Wednesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.","duration":"T1M34S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/08\/22\/111127717-0-image-m-34_1788904072537.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-08T22:46:27+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); ‘But they will be there or thereabouts, there’s no doubt about that.’ Asked if the fanbase would prefer to win the Premier League or the Champions League this season, Merson replied: ‘Now they’ve won t