Once a football club is in a doom spiral, it is extremely difficult to get out of it. Manchester United have proved that for many years, with their collapse under Michael Carrick the latest sorry episode in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

It is possible, though, for a big Premier League side to rebuild and return to the top. For inspiration, United need only look towards north London, where their old rivals Arsenal pulled themselves out of a similar, if not even more perilous, situation a few seasons ago.

Here, Telegraph Sport analyses the lessons that United can learn from Arsenal’s journey from chaos to champions under Mikel Arteta.

Lesson one: Be brutal with underperforming, overpaid stars

For too long, United have rewarded mediocrity. This is a club that has endlessly indulged highly-paid players who have not consistently delivered the quality that a club of United’s stature demands.

Players such as Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, as just a handful of examples, are either not good enough for a club’s United ambition, or no longer good enough at their age. Some of them have simply been at Old Trafford for too long.

Arsenal had a similar problem when Arteta took over in 2019. Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac and Sokratis Papastathopoulos were on big wages, and were all failing to offer what Arteta wanted.

Realising that there was no market for ageing players on huge contracts, Arsenal took a bold decision: rather than sacking the manager and hoping a new coach could get more from these players, as most clubs would do, they brutally ditched the players instead through a series of contract terminations.

It was an expensive process for Arsenal, who effectively paid a string of senior stars to leave the club, but they considered it an investment in their future. It proved to be an extremely good one as it freed up space in the squad – and on the wage bill – for new players to come in.

Lesson two: Trust the power of youth

Arsenal’s entire project was built on youth. It was truly kickstarted by the emerging duo of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, two graduates of the academy, and then accelerated by the club’s work in the transfer market. In the crucial summer transfer window of 2021, eighteen months after Arteta’s appointment, they targeted players in their early twenties.

Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale were among the signings in that summer, and this trio proved crucial in bringing a new energy to the squad. The fans loved the sight of these young stars and the Emirates Stadium, previously a pit of despair, was revitalised.

Do United have the foundations in place to do something similar? On paper, yes. Kobbie Mainoo is an academy graduate with a connection to the fanbase, and teenage forward Shea Lacey is clearly a promising talent. Ayden Heaven, Leny Yoro, Patrick Dorgu, Andrey Santos, Carlos Baleba and Benjamin Sesko are all aged 23 or younger.

The problem with trusting young players in this manner is that they will make mistakes. They will not be consistent. Arsenal were willing to accept this, as they believed the short-term pain would ultimately lead to significant long-term gain. Arteta’s side finished eighth, eighth and fifth in his first three campaigns. Arsenal were so committed to the project that they stuck with the manager and allowed these youngsters to grow.

Lesson three: Culture is king

The promising youngsters on United’s books are only going to develop properly if they are in the right environment. This is perhaps the single biggest learning from Arsenal’s rebuild: they did not just cut out the problematic older players to make room on the wage bill, but also to prevent them from becoming bad influences on the youngsters.

Clearly, there is currently no sense of unity at United. That much has been made evident by the post-match interviews of Lisandro Martínez and Bruno Fernandes in recent days. What kind of message are these senior figures sending to the younger players? What kind of damage are they doing to morale inside the first-team building?

At Arsenal, Arteta did not stand for it. Big players such as Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were exiled and then removed, as Arteta established his authority in brutal fashion. Crucially, though, he was empowered by the club in these situations. They allowed him to swing his axe.

The consequence is that the remaining players learnt who was boss. It took some time but, after a couple of seasons, there was no doubt that Arsenal had become Arteta’s club. The same cannot be said for Carrick, who took a far more lenient approach to Martínez than Arteta would have done.

Whether Carrick stays or is replaced, the United manager needs to set standards – and then be backed by the club. Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag both exiled star players, but both were then sacked. It hardly sent the message to the players that the manager was in charge.