As Oleksandr Zinchenko looks set to become Arsenal’s fifth signing of the summer, a move welcomed by Mikel Arteta, the manager has made it clear that it’s time to start trimming the squad down to a more manageable size.
There are at least half a dozen players on the US tour whose futures likely lie elsewhere, and that aspect of our summer business is an important one, something the Spaniard insists will happen soon.
Asked if he expected more arrivals following the Ukraine international’s £30m move from Man City, he replied, “I don’t know. We have a large squad so we have to make some decisions as well on the players that we’re not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them and that’s a process that is going to start very soon as well.
“We have to [move players on]. We have a big squad and now we have to make things happen.”
It’s certainly been quieter on the outgoing front than the incoming one, but hopefully we can start to see a few deals done, generate some revenue, and bring the squad down to the kind of size it needs to be.
In the departure lounge
Bernd Leno: Linked heavily with Fulham, has one year left on his current deal.
Alex Runarsson: Has no future here.
Hector Bellerin: Into the final year of his deal, a move suits both parties.
Pablo Mari: Surplus to requirements at left centre-half, a move to Italy has been mooted.
Nuno Tavares: Zinchenko’s arrival means the door is open for him to depart, a loan move to Brighton one of the options.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: One year left on his deal. Clearly needs to be somewhere else for the sake of his career.
Lucas Torreira: Made it clear he doesn’t want to be here, there are some unconfirmed reports he left the training camp for Italy last night.
Reiss Nelson: Like AMN, just a year left, and with Arsenal still seeking a wide forward having missed out on Raphinha, his future surely lies elsewhere.
Nicholas Pepe: A deal all sides would like to get done, but as yet there’s been no concrete interest in the Ivorian international.
There may be others who attract some interest too, so let’s keep fingers crossed we can sell well and sell soon.
Cleaned up some spam comments. Sorry about that!
There have been rumors about Gabriel going. Hope that won’t be the case but I think he could be a surprise departure.
I don’t think so.
Hope you are right. The thing with surprises is that they tend to surprise you though…
Unless you think they are going to happen, which doesn’t make it a surprise at all.
he isn’t going anywhere.
Tell me why the club would sanction a sale for a key player, when Arteta is being backed the way he is. Over £300m spent to assemble this squad to just sell Gabriel before we’ve even made top 4. Then tell me why the player would want the move when he’s said he’s happy here and he’s got two other Gabi’s squad, he knows we’re going places.
A Gabriel who by all indications also looks happy to be here also. Wouldn’t make any sense
The thing with the anti Arsenal media is that today’s shit is tomorrow’s shit covered in flies.
Mate, do yourself a favour, improve the quality of your life infinitely and quit clicking onto the shit being pumped out by the media.
😉👍🍺
I’m not worried. Juventus were looking at him to replace Munich bound de Ligt, but they signed Bremmer from Torino instead.
You can add Bellerin & Nelson to that list of 7. That’s a lot of work to do !
selling Bellerin twice would certainly do our transfer budget some good
Help me out here blogger – did you add Bellerin in a later edit or have I lost my mind and he was there all along ? 😀
Just make sure it’s to the same club. Could be tricky otherwise.
…and if we could insert a sell-on fee into both contracts, we’re quids in!
The only leftovers from the Wenger era (2017-18 squad) are Holding Bellerin Xhaka Elneny AMN Nelson Nketiah and most of them we rarely see any more.
The current team looks much more exciting
In fairness, only Bellerin and Xhaka were starting players. Koscielny and Mertesacker were the centre halves, not Holding. There were one or two quality players then too: Ozil, Alexis, Ramsey, Walcot, and Giroud.
It’s a bit hit and miss at times with Arteta. I’m thinking about Mari, Cedric, Willian etc. I guess they were more stop gap signings, then you have the Emery era players of Pepe, Torreira, (Leno?). But Emery also gave us Saka, Martinelli and Tierney who are all key for us. AMN could have been key for us, we rejected £20m from wolves after his RB performance against Liverpool Community shield few seasons ago because he was in our plans but then… That one makes me sad.
Emery didn’t give us Saka…our youth system did
Bellerin, Nelson also on that list. 1 of Hein and Okonkwo as well
Hope we can trim the squad, but I don’t think we will generate a lot of money on departures. Bellerin, Torreira and AMN probably gives us somewhere in the region of 15 mill combined, I think. Leno hopefully another 10. Mari, Runarson won’t give us anything and Pepe will be a loan (where we pay most of his wages). Hopefully a good loan spell means we can get something substantial for Pepe next year (I would be stoked to get 20 mill at this point). Or else we are looking into another we-will-pay-you-to-leave situation and probably the worst transfer in… Read more »
It’s the savings in wages where we’ll make money.
Bellerin, Leno, Torreira and Pepe are all on 100+ grand a week. There’s probably 6-7 hundred thousand pound a week saving getting rid of that lot. That’s a huge amount over a season.
Pepe thing sucks quite a bit. Never did work out for him AND he’s our most expensive signing ever at 72m. A move back to France might do him some good.
But only after we’ve signed some decent cover for Saka.
Summarised well, forgot to mention Bellerin and Nelson. Out of all the signings made last summer, all were straight first team but lokonga and tavares, Edu speaks about this medium to long term strategy and it’s interesting because last summer we went for players under 23yo, this summer we’ve gone for more established 25yo targets (Jesus, Zinchenko, Tielemans is also linked and is 25yo). You can clearly see a strategy is in place, only negative was that we paid off some players contracts rather than sell in the past so we’re all looking to see how we deal with the… Read more »
My comment hasn’t been approved for over 30 mins, but this one has?
Probably used a banned word, like sp*rs.
Dare i say you’re too emotional ?
I guess unlike you he operates clean jobs from his laptop.
For me, it’s the usual three that – as far as I’m concerned – cannot ‘depart’ soon enough and whilst they’re on the books they’ll remain a detriment to our progress if Arteta is daft enough to play them.
Tavares, Cedric and Mari.
Get rid.
Cedric yes. 100%
Because Arteta relies on him so much. The other two either don’t play or can get better.
Cedric playing every game and taking all our set pieces is nothing short of fucking unacceptable again this season. GET RID.
Seriously the pathological dislike of Cedric is ridiculous. A replacement for him is about 5th on our list of priorities.
Xhaka needs replacing before Cedric
No he doesn’t.
Xhaka is a professional who has got his head down and worked on his weaknesses, upped his game and remains a strong character to have on the pitch.
Cedric is a serial accident waiting to happen, who breaks down endless opportunities to attack with crosses to row Z, cannot defend his way out of a paper bag, has made no attempt to up his game – unless that includes photo- bombing – and remains a pain in the arse liability to have on the pitch.
Cedric isn’t a serial accident waiting to happen, in the 7 league matches he played alongside Tierney, Gabriel and White we won 6 of them. He’s statically part of our best back 4.
Tavares inclusion in the first 11 is where we see a significant drop in points, which is why we’ve replaced him.
Xhaka is clearly the most obvious area of improvement we can make in our 1st 11, which is why replacing him is more of a priority than replacing Cedric.
Cedric was clearly our weak link both going forward and defending last season. We missed Tomiyasu dearly. Xhaka is a limited player, but he does help the team tick, unlike Cedric.
Cedric is our reserve right back, Xhaka is in our first choice 11.
Did we finish 5th because of Cedric? No. We finished 5th because our highest scoring centre forward scored 5 and we haemorrhaged points when Tavares played. Both of those issues have been dealt with.
The most obvious and pressing need now is to strengthen Xhaka’s position, then more goals, then quality cover for Partey, then replacing or 2nd choice right back
We dropped a possible 15 points from 15 in the last six weeks of the season whilst that idiot was ‘deputising’ for Tommi.
Yes, Tommi started at Newcastle, then had to go off when the scores were still 0-0. Cedric came on and lo and behold – cue a Newcastle victory.
Come on man, I’m no fan of Cedric but that result was hardly his fault alone.
And you can do better than calling him an idiot in every post.
Fine.
I’ll say no more on the subject.
But heaven help us – again – if Tommi picks up a long term injury.
…and the next time he takes it upon himself to own a free kick and blasts it nowhere, I’ll take what you called him on the live blog away against Southampton (and it wasn’t nearly as polite as idiot) with a wry smile. 😉
Rarely anyone mentions the HOWLER Holding had @ SHL. One of the worst CB performances seen in a while. And got himself sent off. And we lost. And they took 4th…
If Tommi picks up an injury, that clown will cost us points – again. His idea of ‘defending’ is to shit himself and sling everything out for an opposition corner. That’s when he’s not busy allowing his opposition winger/forward all the space and time in the world to go down the line and basically do as they please. And if there’s a daft challenge that might result in a penalty being awarded to the opposition, then nine times out of ten, he’s in the thick of it. In short, the guy is a nightmare and the sooner Arteta wakes up… Read more »
Cedric hasn’t cost us points, the stats are very clear. He’s part of our first choice back 4 based on results. You can’t argue with it.
You’re allowed not to like him but making stuff up doesn’t mean it’s true.
You speak the truth brother. The Cedric witch hunt is ridiculous, as is Tavares hate. A back up for Partey is required because when he’s out we tend to lose. And those who think we’re now “set” up front with Jesus and Eddie…lol…Eddie had one club interested in taking him before he re-signed…crystal fkn palace…enough said.
….the same Crystal Palace who tubbed us 3-0 with Cedric and Tavares in the starting line up.
As for your derision towards Eddie and Jesus, I’m looking forward to the new season – and your being conspicuous by your absence in here.
Against Palace the first 2 goals were mistakes by Gabriel and Cedric was off the pitch for the 3rd.
We finished 5th because we didn’t score enough. We lost those 5 matches at the end of the season because we scored 1 goal, not because Cedric played.
Hopefully Jesus scores 15-20 in the league and fixes some that but also having someone in Xhaka’s position who offers more than a single goal and assist over a season would also help.
I’ve always maintained that our failure to make top four was both our defending (Cedric, Tavares, Mari) and our lack of goals (Lacazette).
If you check out our goals for and against – and you love a stat – you’ll see it was more or less a 50/50.
We’ve got rid of Laca.
We now need to get rid of Tavares, Mari and Cedric.
The longer those guys remain on the books, the worse off our chances of top four will be – if Arteta is mad enough to play them.
Success is based on goals scored not conceded.
The top 4 are the top 4 scorers in order, the bottom 3 are the 3 lowest scorers.
There are 8 teams that finished above relegated Burnley with a worse defensive record, Man Utd conceded more and finished 6th.
Arsenal will only move up the league with more goals. Scoring is rewarded higher than keeping them out.
I won’t go missing like you did after your Arteta hate campaign hit the skids once he had us contending for 4th…
Heh.
You went missing last week, once Jesus started scoring.
And as for Arteta, I had the guts to admit I was wrong – something you’d never do, otherwise we’d never hear the last of you.
“And as for Arteta, I had the guts to admit I was wrong.” Really? We must have missed that. Comedy golf as usual…lol.
*on here
i was with you on the first 3 sentences, but am unconvinced by your assessment of our strikers.
He hasn’t got a clue.
You want stats?
You got stats.
The defeats to Palace Brighton, Southampton, Tottenham and Newcastle.15 points dropped in the run-in to our top four challenge.
And who was tarting around in the RB position when we conceded nearly all of our goals in those five games…?
In your own time mate….
The points dropped were all down to Cedric starting? Is that what you’re saying here? lol.
A chain is only as good as it’s weakest link.
A team is only as good as it’s weakest player.
Comprehend? ‘lol’
So, when I’ve stated on here – time and again – that it’s my belief that we missed out on top four because of our defence (Cedric, Tavares) and our so-called forward (Laca) – which part of that did you not understand?
lol.
What did Cedric do to you mate? Lots of hate there. Better than taking it out on the family.
And what did my family do to you for you to drag them into your pathetic attempt at an argument….?
I’ve wanted Xhaka gone for half a decade, believe me. But at least he brings some leadership.
What does Cedric offer? IMO he cost us top four with his performances in the final month. Aged 30 and he still doesn’t know the offside trap. Truly awful.
While I don’t understand how he is one of the favourites who can do know wrong in Arteta’s eyes. He was never once punished for his mistakes last season. While others were thrown right off the bus.
Xhaka doesn’t bring any on pitch leadership, it’s just been so long since we’ve had a player who has people forget what it looks like.
If you’re going to pick one player in our team that can neither defend or attack then Xhaka is your man and is the primary reason our left hand side is nowhere near as efficient as the right. Added to that he’s by far our most indisciplined player.
We are talking from the same page my friend. I have been one of the biggest Xhaka sceptics on here for years, and nobody wants him replaced more than me. He offers very little going forward or backwards, and has never been suited to this league. Him playing further forward has masked his inability to tackle or track runners, and coincidentally he’s now coming out in the press again. His mistakes have gone down, but he offers next to nothing more than a bang average number 8 would provide in his position. Since we have bought Partey we can all… Read more »
When Azpilicueta wanted some afters with Saka at Stamford Bridge, who was in the middle of a potential brawl calming our lads down and doing his level best to diffuse a situation that might have been detrimental to a crucial away win and three vital points….?
Xhaka.
You’re not getting top 4 w Cedric starting.
Spot on mate.
The trouble is, it would take last season to repeat itself about five times for the penny to eventually drop for some individuals on here to finally get it.
Thank god he’s at best 2nd choice
Maybe he has “worked” on some of his “weaknesses”. But did you watch the Nations League? Xhaka was still out there tugging at every shirt that tried to go past him. Inside the box, no less. What’s this guy with other people’s shirts? You would have thought that at 100k per week, he could simply buy as many of the stuff as he fancies. Top 4 is going to be harder this season, and Xhaka’s mandatory couple of red cards could cost us.
He still offers us more than both Cedric and Tavares.
Not that that’s difficult….
Mate, EVERYONE knows that Xhaka is singled out by the officials for extras or haven’t you caught up yet?
Where anyone else is given the benefit of the doubt, Xhaka gets a yellow.
Where anyone else is given a yellow card, Xhaka gets a red.
It’s quite a familiar and well documented pattern.
I’m only surprised you haven’t noticed.
“Xhaka is a professional… Cedric is a serial accident waiting to happen”
it’s like you’ve mixed up which of them has given up 5 pens and received 6 red cards during their arsenal tenure. also, 3 of those 11 events were last season, so miss me with the “upped his game” ish.
i’d certainly keep bellerin or amn over cedric, but at this point an upgrad on xhaka seems like the most useful thing we could do in terms of transfers.
5th being the operative word where Cedric is concerned.
I suspect Pepe will stay. He’s still a decent backup for Saka.
Yep. I’ve been saying that for ages.
He definitely deserves a place on the bench at least. A strong bench equals strong results.
With 5 subs in PL, and additional domestic and European tournaments, having a bigger squad wouldn’t be a bad thing. I would keep Maitland Niles and either Nelson/Pepe.
Don’t worry. They’ll still be with us. Where else they gonna go?!
I think not getting a proper CM is going to hurt us badly in case Partey/Xhaka are unavailable. We have no depth there except Sambi who looked good in Pre-season till now. I would be delighted to have Tielemans joining us however it feels like 50-50 more on the negative side.
Lol, the thing that struck me most is that AMN is still in the squad. Been a minute since he’s featured here. And Runarsson as well.