Former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas has given his verdict on the current Gunners squad and has picked almost half of it that deserves to be sold this summer.
Following their capitulation against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night, it was another miserable chapter in what has become a terrible season for Arsenal.
With Arsene Wenger’s contract expiring at the end of the season, question marks remain over his future in north London while the focus has switched to some of the players who have badly let him down over and over again.
Nicholas was asked by Sky Sports to give his opinion on which players should be sold in the summer, and he didn’t hold back as he picked 10 for the boot out of 25.
Now, it’s unlikely that such an upheaval will happen in one window as ultimately it would cost Arsenal a significant amount of money to replace them all.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to disagree with Nicholas on these players needing to be shipped out, aside from perhaps Laurent Koscielny who has proven to be so important in the Arsenal defence over the years, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who has impressed in recent weeks with a switch to midfield.
Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Per Mertesacker, Gabriel, Olivier Giroud, David Ospina, Francis Coquelin and Carl Jenkinson should all be sold according to Nicholas, and he believes by freeing those places up and rebuilding, Arsenal should have enough to satisfy the contract demands of Alexis Sanchez.
It’s not all about one player though and the Gunners need a squad, but ultimately of those named above, how many of them are really good enough to help end Arsenal’s wait for a Premier League title and progress in Europe?