It’s generally accepted that you need some kind of continuity in defence if you want to have a solid unit going into the season, but Arsenal also have a lot of average defenders.
The defence has been a weak spot for a while and the arrival of Mikel Arteta hasn’t managed to bring the best out of some players, so it might be worth taking a radical approach and getting rid of most of them.
That certainly seems to be the view of former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas, as a report from Goal indicated that he wants to see as many as five players move on.
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Interestingly the first name he goes with is Hector Bellerin, although he does state that should only happen if the price is right. The Spaniard has a history of injury problems but he’s also a very good player, so that would be a tough call.
The other four do make more sense, as he urges Arteta to sell Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding and Callum Chambers too.
Even if those centre backs left he would still have David Luiz, Pablo Mari and William Saliba to call upon, while that should free up some money to allow him to sign some replacements and strengthen other parts of the squad too.
Obviously the main problem will be finding teams to sign all of those players, but it could be worth doing it and dealing with the teething problems of forming a new defence, especially if that helps them in the long term.