Three players Arsenal should buy and sell this summer.
Three In
Mario Madzukic – Bayern Munich
The Croatian international looks set to be pushed out of the club this summer thanks to the impending arrival of Robert Lewandowski from Borussia Dortmund. A player that deserves to be far much more than a bit-part star, his signature will be well sought after and his goal threat will be most welcome in any of Europe’s top divisions.
He would provide excellent foil for Olivier Giroud and would put away a great percentage of the chances that the creative talent in the Arsenal midfield create for him.
Julian Draxler – Schalke
The young midfielder almost joined the Gunners in the January transfer window, but reports suggest that Arsene Wenger failed to meet the asking price. If he has any sense he won’t be making that same mistake again this summer as his capture would be a huge coup for the club and he would go a long way to helping the club put their trophy drought well and truly behind them.
There is also the idea of the resale value, which will appeal to an old economics genius like Wenger too.
Alex Song – Barcelona
The former Gunners ace is the one player that the club have failed to replace and many believe that a decent defensive midfielder would have helped the club greatly this season to put more distance between themselves at the top of the league and the chasing pack below.
He has failed to settle in Spain and has seldom featured for the defending La Liga champions, making the notion of a potential return to north London all the more possible. He played his best football at the Emirates and would be foolish to rule out the opportunity to rekindle that.
Three Out
Nicklas Bendtner
Everybody was rooting for the Danish playboy to come good this season and take everybody by surprise by rushing to the top of the goalscoring charts, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be.
He’s not been completely useless by any means, but what he has contributed has often fallen short of what has been needed from him and there is no doubt that this summer will be the right time to go, even if it is only to get his wages off the bill for next year.
He is still capable of making a splash in the Premier League, or might even fancy starting fresh overseas.
Abou Diaby
When fit he is one of the most effective players in the Premier League, but unfortunately, therein lies the problem; he’s never fit. The perma-injured midfielder is just dead weight to the Gunners at the moment, taking up a valuable squad space and no doubt commanding a high weekly salary that he is just not able to justify this year.
However, he is still a quality player and should he be made available he would undoubtedly command a healthy fee that could be pumped back into other areas of the squad.
Ryo Miyachi
There doesn’t seem to be much hope for the Japanese international to make his mark at the Emirates as he has struggled enough to cope with the demand of Championship football in separate spells with both Bolton and Wigan.
At 21, though, there is still plenty of time for him to develop and carve out a healthy career for himself; it just won’t be in north London.
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