Exclusive: Arsenal Ready to Offload Ten to Clear Way for £37.4m Signing as Part of Squad Shake-Up

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Emirates Stadium side to conduct squad clear-out ahead of significant additions.

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Arsenal proved last summer that they were capable of making significant moves in the transfer market as they forked out £42.5m to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, a move that has proved a huge success, and now Arsene Wenger is ready to conduct a clear-out to help finance the arrival of German wonder-kid Julian Draxler.

CaughtOffside understands that have been encouraged to make a move to trigger the 20 year old Schalke midfielder’s €45m (£37.4m) release clause though Gunners boss Wenger has been advised to trim his expansive squad in order to help partially foot the bill for his potential arrival.

In order to do so Wenger will make available a number of player’s who are no longer vital to his first team squad whilst simultaneously looking to cut down the number of talents he opts to loan out, with a view to securing permanent exits for such players he feels are not likely to force their way into his first team reckoning.

Wenger will look to offload Swiss defender Johan Djourou to Hamburg and will likewise hope to sell Francis Coquelin and Ignasi Miquel, who are at Freiburg and Leicester City respectively, these are clearly not sales that would raise a great deal of capital but would help to lighten the Arsenal squad overall.

Arsene Wenger is ready to sell Joel Campbell to Olympiakos, hoping that the Costa Rican international has impressed sufficiently to attract a decent sum and South Korean Park Chu-Young will also be made available for a nominal fee.

Though Nicklas Bendtner has proved a useful back-up for Olivier Giroud this season, prior to his recent injury concerns, Wenger wishes to finally sell the Danish international following his many loan spells away from the club.

Emmanuel Frimpong, Ryo Miyaichi and perennially injured French midfielder Abou Diaby are all also considered surplus to requirements.

Two further players that Wenger is willing to consider offers for come in the form of Lukas Podolski and Thomas Vermaelen, talents who could garner decent sums and no shortage of prospective suitors.

Experienced German international Podolki has struggled with injuries of late and is a player who will not be happy to warm the bench but the former Bayern Munich man will struggle to force his way into the Arsenal first team starting eleven when all Wenger’s options are fully fit.

Similarly Belgian international Vermaelen is said to be unhappy about his lack of action over the past 12 months and is concerned this could affect his standing in Marc Wilmots 2014 World Cup finals squad.

Wenger will however not consider selling the former Ajax man unless he has brought in an experienced alternative to act as a back-up to his first choice central defensive pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, with talk of an interest in Man City’s adaptable bit-part player Micah Richards as possible target in this regard.


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