Arsenal could reportedly offload up to eight players this summer, as Sky Sports have assessed the current squad and predicted who could be leaving.
Since being appointed as the long-term successor to Unai Emery in December, there has undoubtedly been an improvement in performances and results under Mikel Arteta.
However, the Gunners still have a huge battle on their hands to secure Champions League qualification for next season, while they will hope that they can land a trophy in the form of the FA Cup when the season restarts.
Nevertheless, Arteta will undoubtedly hope to be able to stamp his mark on the squad in the summer having had a relatively quiet January transfer window, but it remains to be seen how the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic impacts their spending especially if they fail to break into the top four again.
Sky Sports have analysed their current squad, with reporter Dharmesh Sheth suggesting that up to eight players could be set to leave, while Dani Ceballos won’t stay when his loan expires and defender Konstantino Mavropanos is likely to be shipped out on loan himself.
In addition, Matt Macey, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi, Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny, Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are all being tipped to be moved on by Arsenal this summer.
If that were to materialise, Arsenal would keep a number of important figures, most notably Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, although again, it remains to be seen if that’s realistic and likely to happen.
Nevertheless, many of the touted exits do make sense to either clear space in the squad for others to emerge or to raise funds to sign replacements, and so Arsenal fans will be hoping that if there is an exodus, any subsequent money is well spent to address key issues in the squad and to give Arteta what he needs to oversee a rebuild and to shape the squad into one that he can build a successful future with.
—
“The greatest talent I ever coached was Ronaldo but at the same time he was the player who created the most problems for me in the dressing room. He used to throw parties and do everything. Once Van Nistelrooy said to me: ‘Coach, the dressing room smells like alcohol’.” – Fabio Capello. READ MORE…
—