Gunners everywhere can no longer deny it. Arsenal are now a perennial also-ran in the battle to be called Champions of England. They are, quite simply not good enough to be considered as the best in the land. And with that said, the logical action would be to make some changes.

Since the turn of the millennium, and maybe even before, Arsenal have been a youthful team. With Arsene Wenger at the helm, it seems that there is always a crop of youngsters that, in two or three years time will lead Arsenal to glory. Youngsters that will become the face of English football for years to come. Youngsters that have so much raw, bubbling talent waiting to be released as soon as they achieve their full potential.

Now potential is a difficult thing to fulfill anyway, but that word has been used in the same sentence with Arsenal for too long. It's a word that has made Arsenal fans sleep easy for one to many a night. Every year, they seem to have a talented core of players barely out of there teens that, with some maturity, will become the superstars of the next few years. But for Arsenal, potential is the worst form of procrastination. Every year, their youths look so promising and perform so well in the domestic cups. But ultimately, they mostly fail to break in where it really counts, in the Prem and the Champions League.

Since the aftermath of the 2001-2002 double campaign, Wenger has become more obsessed in his search for young talent. He has looked abroad and he has opened the chequebook. Every year, some new teens were signed while a few others that were already on the team were cast away. Jermaine Pennant was a sign of things to come back in his day. The price tags ultimately became higher and higher, culminating with the record-breaking mistake of Jose Antonio Reyes in 2004. Despite the rise in spending, however, most of the youngsters from the last few years are not here to tell the tale.

Last year, Arsenal made some headway in ridiculing my current argument by falling to Barca at the last hurdle of the Champions League with a squad of less than seasoned players. Talk of heroes and underdogs was all fine and dandy, but it proved to be no more than a one season wonder when the Arsenal of this term are, as in the Premiership, not seriously considered to take home the prize. The recent Carling Cup Final against Chelsea weaved similar patterns to the David vs. Goliath European Finale of the previous year. But, as always, there was promise from the Arsenal team, but ultimately no end product, no trophy to take home, no matter how the youngsters impressed the world with their potential.

Yes, you cannot underestimate the future value of rearing your own cattle, but its high time Arsene Wenger made them more of a background project rather than a serious composition of the first team. Its time to slow down the turnover of youths coming in and out of the club, stop looking toward the future and focus on the here and now. Sure, Kolo Toure and Cesc Fabregas can rightly be considered among the finest in Europe, but that's not quite a just reward for the amount of focus on youth that is the Arsenal first team. Guys like Philippe Senderos are not the type of players to make 27+ Premiership starts for a club that has serious ambitions of winning the title, at least not this season.

Getting a man like William Gallas is exactly the kind of signing that will set them on the road to triumph. Theo Walcott may yet go on to outshine them all, but surely that is too much money to spend on someone who's too young to even sign a professional contract? It's fine to bring in some young faces from off the market but for the sake of the Arsenal, they should try not to overspend on prospects and use the bread to barter in some proven players that have seen a few seasons in top flight football.

With that said though, Arsenal still has their other problems that need to be attended to. Their patient buildup play promises much, but lacks an end product or result and has long been figured out, just like some of the youths at the club. Their style of play needs to change so that players are no longer intimidated to shoot from outside the six yard box (Tomas Rosicky and Robin Van Persie excluded).

People like Freddie Ljunberg and Jeremie Aliadiere have become extremely stale, Gilberto blows hot and cold too often and, though the Gunners love him to death, Thierry Henry should have probably been sold during the summer. With Chelsea signing star after star, Manchester United starting to take back what was originally theirs and the always slippery Liverpool lurking around the corner, Arsenal need to act quick or see themselves fall out of the title picture for years to come.

Maybe a look at current world beaters Barcelona might give them a clue as to where to get cracking. Xavi, Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Leo Messi and Victor Valdes, some of the world's finest players have been bred by the club from tender ages. They, together with the mass departures/arrivals of 2003 and 2004 that completely revamped the team, form the best club in Europe.

Hell, even Arsenal's Fabregas is a product of that near-legendary academy. The transition that Barca went through during 2003 and 2004 is exactly the sort of revolution that fans should see at this Arsenal club. Sure, they may not get a Ronaldinho or even a Henrik Larsson, but Barcelona made the changes that the entire team was in desperate need of.

Looking at where it has gotten them, I say its time Arsenal followed suit, one way or another.