By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

For FOX Deportes

I’ll admit it on here so that my footballing standards can be heckled from here on out.

I’m a Gooner. Bask in it.

Yet, this off-season seems to leave me with more questions than answers. Questions like…

Is Arsenal truly one player away from winning trophies for the upcoming season… (You know, because now we’ll be parting ways with Robin van Persie, and he wants to leave our presitigious club? Which reminds me…)

Why can’t Arsenal retain their top talent year after year… (You know, because in two years we’ve seen Cesc Fabregas, Samri Nasri, Gael Clichy and now RvP all proverbially chuck the deuce to go win elsewhere. Yet somehow…)

We probably underappreciate Arsene Wenger more than we should, but why does it seem he’s always on the hot seat… (You know, because the man has plugged these gaping holes left by superstars, and yet finds a way to keep Arsenal in the Champions League year over yet. Although…)

Can we really expect Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud to be stout replacements in the Gunners rotation? (You know, because Podolski hasn’t really been lighting the world on fire at FC Koln or on the German National team. Oh, and I’d never heard of Olivier Giroud until I heard Wenger expressed interest. Which leaves me with this…)

Will Arsenal be able to retain their form at the top of table? (Every year we go through the ups and downs of the Gunners, Arsene’s evolving lineup and the youth movement that seems to happen every year. Dread sets in, hope expires, then you look up and Arsenal pulls off a miraculous 3rd place finish.)

I’ve learned to accept what happens at Arsenal, and that the Gunners will always be one player away. They’re one player away because Wenger believes he can plant the seeds for the next Thierry Henry and when the seeds grow into a flourishing plant, everyone can eat off the fruit. Poor analogy maybe, but that’s what it is with Arsenal. Accepting the system.

Can you accept these new purple jerseys? After being disgusted with them for five minutes, I came back to the computer screen and they looked refreshing. Almost like a clean start. Now I like them.

This is the life of a Gooner, we’re up one day, the next we’re questioning our entire existence.