The Rebuild Continues In The Summer, But First, Who Will Make Way?
Arsenal’s winter transfer window was deemed a success, but according to Chris Davison of Football London, that could only be a taste of what the Gunners can expect in the summer transfer window.
According to Davison, Arteta may sanction a major squad overhaul this summer. Arsenal has a chance to win the Premier League this season; if they don’t, they’ll almost certainly be back in the Champions League next season.
Arsenal will require a superior squad upon their return to Champions League football; prior to the winter transfer window, the concern at Arsenal was a lack of quality squad depth. The additions of Jakub Kiwior, Leandro Trossard, and Jorginho have improved Arsenal’s squad depth, but it may just be enough to lead them to the Premier League title.
Arsenal requires more quality ahead of next season, but before they can add it, some players who aren’t good enough may have to leave.
Allbert Sambi Lokonga, Rob Holding, Cedric Soares, Alex Runarsson, Pablo Mari, Nuno Tavares, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pepe, Mohamed Elneny, and Reiss Nelson could all be offloaded.
After they offloaded some of their stars, several moves could be completed. Arteta could prioritise a move for a right back, with Real Valladolid’s Ivan Fresneda a player to watch.
He may then consider adding to his midfield, with Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo both linked with a summer move to the Emirates.
A move to sign Bukaya Saka’s backup could also be considered.
With these additions, Arsenal may have the talent to make a strong return to the Champions League.
Darren N
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in summary the fans want big name and big tag signings in the summer
Come on now Hafiz Rahmann, that was you back in the day. I still remember.
I agree with the proposal to unload all the players listed in your article Darren, but as you know, depending on the terms of their contracts, wages etc it may be difficult to do so in practise unless we take a very realistic attitude as far as potential transfer fees are concerned.In today’s market, I doubt if we could raise 50m for all the players mentioned.That said, I suspect Patrick Veira will get a tune out of Sambi which may lead to a permanent deal with Palace.I think the guy is a talented footballer who could prove himself as a more attacking midfielder, but time will tell.As for the others, Holding will find a home for sure but the others may be with us for the duration of their contracts.As for your suggestion concerning a back up for Saka, in Martinelli,ESR,Veiria,Trossard and Jesus we already have players who are capable of operating on the right wing.In fact Jesus has played more often than not on the right wing for Brazil.
Only Trossard and Jesus can replace Saka on the RW. As for Martinelli and ESR, definitely a big NO. Viera will also be wasted there as he won’t be effective. He’s much better suited to Ødegaard’s position
Watch out balagun will be our next big striker not always need big money just opening the eyes !
The names mentioned as part of the clear out are very much fringe players and most wouldn’t be missed at all
Dan mentioned in his article that reliability in the back up role is key- as in Edu and Parlour were back then. It all comes down to balance and not standing still in the transfer market and hopefully bringing on the next generation from the youth team as well. All done without breaking the budget which is easier said than done.
SHOULD we win the league or come second then more than half the battle has been won already. Aren’t we close to having most options covered?
You seem to forget that our starting eleven in the EPL will also be our starting eleven in the CL. And if all the players you mentioned are given away, who will then play backup? Unless you want us to sign almost ten players just to play backup. My prediction is that:
1. Instead of Caicedo, we would go for Rice or probably buy both
2. Balogun is in the form of his life and currently Ligue 1 too scorer so no striker is incoming
That’s all I expect from us this summer. Nothing more
Great that you mentioned Balogun. Him plus jesus, eddie, martinelli, odegard, saka are important players. Reiss, vieira are decent but they need to do more consistently to relieve our attacking anxiety. Also think that we need a towering forward as plan B.
We would either need to feed Balogun more so that he would grow taller, or otherwise sell either him or Nketiah before going for a towering forward. No striker will come when we already have three senior strikers on our books
Well,it is a well known fact that MA considers 25 players to be the right squad size(3 GK,22 outfield players).
Ramsdale/Turner/Heinz
White/Saliba/Gabriel M/KT/Zinchenko/Tomi/Kiwior
Xhaka/MØ/TP/Jorginho/ESR /Mo
Martinelli/Nkhetiah/Jesus/Saka/Trossard
So that’s 22 players which leaves questions over
Holding/Lokonga/Cédric/AMN/Balogun/Marquinhos/Patino… and everyone else out on loans.if MA sticks to 25 players,I cannot see more than 2 new signings and we also have to take into account the home-grown quota.
Probably not his view as such but because competition rules say so.
IF I remember correctly, PL rules have a limit of 25 and I think UEFA recently upped their limit from 23 to 26.
Each Premier League club have submitted squad lists.
Each squad contains no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the “Home Grown Player” (HGP) criteria. The rest of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be “Home Grown”.
Each club squad list is below as well as an additional list of each club’s registered Under-21 players who are eligible over and above the squad limit of 25 players.
It seems that Elneny is being offered a new contract and I am pleased about that.
As for the other names mentioned, until one gets the necessary back ups, if we’re not careful, we will end up like we did at the end of last season…. but we do have to keep improving and strengthen the squad.
Speaking of Elneny,I read many comments about Arsenal not being a charity,for taking up the option of the one year extension while he is injured.these fans are probably the same ones asking for loyalty from players.well last time I checked,it works both ways.what they don’t realise is that before signing for Arsenal,players contact (former) players asking about the club.a good reputation is important.
@Siamois: Agreed. Thats why fans are fans because they shoot from the hip, while management takes more time to deliberate because of structures in place as well as reputations to protect.
Charity begins at home. I am totally happy with the prospect of Elneny having an extension because of his humble and great service to the club.
Small correction , ” we will end up like we did at the end of last 19 years”! Difference is now we sign serious players, then we signed wannabes and retirees that took us rock bottom 20th.
Those players were only “rock bottom” under MA, before that, they finished 5th and 6th under UE and AW…… of course, MA did get them up to the dizzy heights of 8th and out of European football 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬
It seems unlikely to be on the basis of his usefulness, given that he had 66 days out injured from August then he’s out for the season for knee surgery.
That’s pretty unreliable stuff if he were a starter, let alone for a rarely-used backup like Elneny.
Someone suggested it’s because he’s highly regarded in Turkey, so there may be mileage in selling him rather than releasing him.
Am I missing something? Why would be overhaul the squad when our squad is the best I’ve ever seen it. Literally only DM left to fix (I consider Jorginho as backing up Xhaka properly and Partey only because we don’t have someone better)
Where is the big weakness here?
Ramdale, Turner
Zinchenko, Tierney
Gabriel, Kiwior
Saliba, (White), Holding
White, Tomiyasu
Partey, *New Player*, (Jorginho)
Xhaka, Jorginho
Odegaard, Vieira, (Smith-Rowe)
Martinelli, Smith-Rowe/Trossard
(Jesus), Nketiah, Balogun
Saka, Jesus, Nelson, (Trossard)
Potentially a move to 2 up top for some games.
I agree SueP,we won’t see many changes/signings squad wise.i counted 22 players who will definitely be with us next season,it doesn’t leave much room,does it?
👍
I agree. I would like to see Arsenal improve the midfield with the next group after Partey and Xhaka and I’d like to see someone come in to replace Holding as backup to Saliba, if we need a right footed defender there. White and Tomi can play there and maybe Trusty. I guess it just depends on who is playing most weeks at RB.
I’d like to see them keep Nelson, and he seems keen to stay. For some reason, I feel he’s going to be a late bloomer and will be a good squad player on the team when fit.
Yes it’s clear that we’re still rebuilding when this window saw 3 in and 14 out.
There are a number of players who are out on loan mainly because they couldn’t be sold (Cedric, Mari, Pepe spring to mind) so it was they only way to get their wages off the books – and even then, we’re probably paying part of the wages of some of them now.
So there’s still work to be done in the outgoings department and free up funds to bolster the excellent squad we have now.