A look at five players Arsenal should be looking to sell.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did his best to offload most of the club’s worst players this summer, managing to get the likes of Andrey Arshavin, Sebastien Squillaci, Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho off the payroll, though there were certainly a few more that the manager and the fans would like to see the back of. In fairness, when some of the players in your squad are hardly ever playing and looking poor whenever they do, it would be understandably hard to convince other clubs to take a chance on them. Here are a few more players that don’t really look up to scratch at the moment and could do with replacing.
Park Chu-Young
A highly unusual signing more than anything else, Park Chu-Young was brought to Arsenal late on in the summer of 2011, and looks the very definition of a panic buy by the Gunners. The South Korean has since made only one Premier League appearance, and that was as a late substitute in a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United. Despite limited appearances, Park has managed one goal for the club, which came in a League Cup tie at home to Bolton. The former Monaco man then spent last season out on loan with Celta Vigo, where he failed to impress with just four goals.
What did Arsene Wenger ever see in Park? Why sign him if he’s not going to play? No one really knows, but it’s clear he is not going to be a part of the picture at Arsenal anytime soon, and as such should be an obvious candidate for the exit door as soon as possible.
Nicklas Bendtner
Bizarrely enough, Nicklas Bendtner is still an Arsenal player after the club have spent the last three summers trying to get rid of him. Once thought of as one of the best youngsters coming through at the club, Bendtner has not shown the ability to provide the goods on a regular basis at the top level, often looking off the pace and unreliable in front of goal in his time at the club, as well as in failed loan spells with Sunderland and Juventus – the latter in which he failed to register a single strike at all.
With several clubs in England, Germany and Russia supposedly interested in the Danish international this summer, it seemed certain that this would surely be the year Bendtner left the Emirates Stadium for pastures new. However, in the end he failed to reach an agreement with any interested party and now looks like being the club’s only recognised backup striker for Olivier Giroud, with Park, as already explained, clearly not up to task, and youngster Yaya Sanogo looking very raw and inexperienced at this level. Perhaps there’s still a fairytale waiting to happen for the 25-year-old, but it seems unlikely given what we’ve seen so far, as well as his well-noted attitude problems off the pitch as well as on it. Hopefully for Arsenal fans, there will be another opportunity to get rid of him when the transfer window re-opens in January.
Thomas Vermaelen
After being named captain last season following the surprise departure of Robin van Persie to Manchester United, it was then equally surprising to see the dramatic dip in form from the Belgian defender. Vermaelen had shown himself to be a real leader and inspiration for the Gunners in his years with the club prior to last season, but now looks a real liability at the back, making several costly individual errors leading to poor goals conceded last season.
Vermaelen has missed the start of this season due to injury, but Arsene Wenger probably won’t be in a particular hurry to get him back in the team, with Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and even makeshift centre-back Bacary Sagna all looking perfectly fine without him. Napoli and Barcelona were supposedly in for him this summer, and he is clearly still a player with some potential, but perhaps his time at Arsenal had better come to an end. Transfer targets such as Ashley Williams and Adil Rami being linked with Arsenal over the summer suggest Wenger may be thinking the same thing.
Abou Diaby
A sad story indeed, but Abou Diaby is surely not going to make it at Arsenal after a career wrecked by injury after injury. The Frenchman joined the club as a highly promising youngster in 2006, but a horror-challenge from Sunderland’s Dan Smith later that year put him out of action for over eight months. Diaby has never quite been the same since, though Arsene Wenger has been determined time and time again to give him a run in the team in a bid to let him show his true potential. Sadly, the injuries have kept coming and Diaby is out of action at the moment for at least another three months after tearing a cruciate ligament in his knee back in March.
While it’s hard not to be sympathetic for this talented midfielder, Arsenal simply have to move on and realise Diaby is something of a lost cause. His presence in the squad and on the wage bill continues to mean the Gunners are hesitant to invest in a new, much-needed defensive midfielder.
Tomas Rosicky
Another fine player who just hasn’t had any luck with injuries in his time at Arsenal. Tomas Rosicky has been at the club for eight years now, but has only managed 186 appearances, missing the entire 2008/09 season and large chunks of others through spells on the treatment table. Rosicky is still a fairly reliable player when called upon, but now at 32 years of age, his influence is surely on the wane and the arrival of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid could severely limit his playing time this season. Quite simply, Arsenal can and should be aiming to do better than a player of Rosicky’s current ability and influence, and if anyone is willing to take him on in the January transfer window, the Gunners shouldn’t hesitate to let the Czech Republic playmaker go.