arsenal's struggles

ESPN Soccernet has a nice blog post by one of their correspondents on Arsenal FC's struggles. There's no question when you watch them that Arsenal has a talented young batch of players (including Theo Walcott, above, who just re-upped), but their talents seem non-directed (as my roommate often says, they play 'as if they're trying to dribble the ball into the net'). The differences are probably not too much in talent between Arsenal and the 3 Premier League teams ahead of them, but the absence of veteran leadership was clear in their sound thumpings at the hands of Man U and Chelsea. David Young laments:

In his programme notes yesterday, Wenger is quoted as follows: “Look at our midfield from Tuesday - Song, Nasri, Walcott and Fabregas - all aged between 20 and 22. So we will naturally progress if we keep going”. Within this one sentence Arsene Wenger reveals both the strength and key flaw of his current approach. It is of course fantastic that the team has several young players that could go on to prove themselves to be genuinely world class, (though there are several who definitely won’t), and it is right that some of the world’s best young players should be attracted to, and developed by, a club such as Arsenal. But, generally speaking, the received wisdom is that a footballer hits his peak between the ages of 26 and 28. In the transient modern game, where money talks and agents fan the flames of discontent in order to move players on every summer, how many of the current Gunners squad will still be with the club in five years time?

How true. So what are the chances that Arsenal can pull an experienced, aggressive goal scorer from another team in the off-season - a move that would consolidate the talents of their young players and bump the club back into competition to win league titles?