Following up on the speculation last night that Arsenal are close to signing a deal for Marouane Fellaini while, at the same time, Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis was bragging that Arsenal could afford Wayne Rooney if they wanted to, former Arsenal footballer Stewart Robson says that Wenger shouldn’t be handed the £70 million war chest because he’ll simply waste the money.

Here’s what Robson said this morning on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show on talkSPORT:

“I’m not expecting any marquee signings at Arsenal. There’s a lot of talk about it but I don’t know if I would trust Arsene Wenger with that money.

“Over the last few years some of the players that he’s said were going to be world class haven’t ended up like that.

“People like Olivier Giroud, Philippe Senderos, Denilson, Marouane Chamakh, Armand Traore, Sebastien Squillaci, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, Emmanuel Eboue, Park Chu-Young, Lukasz Fabianskii, Gervinho and Andre Santos.

“These are the sort of players who Arsene Wenger said were going to be world class players class players and they haven’t done it.

“Over the last two seasons they have spent some money on Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Mikel Arteta, Nacho Monreal, Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos. They haven’t been top class players.

“Arsene Wenger doesn’t appear to want to sign the top class players, or what other people would describe as top class players. He goes out and says, ‘I can buy you cheaper players for a better price who are going to be world class players in the future’ but that hasn’t been the case in the last few years.

“Some of the players who he has bought have regressed under him like Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen. Nacho Monreal hasn’t been a good signing and Andre Santos has been hopeless for them.

“Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski are past their best and Gervinho is another player who they spent a lot of money on and hasn’t really come to the fore.”

This summer will be a huge test for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. The manager has no excuses not to go out and sign some world-class footballers at higher-than-usual (by Arsenal standards) transfer fees. The club has been very open and honest about the £70million war chest that’s available, and the ball is firmly in Wenger’s court to identify the players he wants to sign.

What do you think about Stewart Robson’s comments? Is he too harsh, or do his words ring true? Tell us your opinion in the comments section below.