Do Arsenal have to sell players before Mahrez or Lemar transfer?

I don’t suppose it would stop Arsene Wenger and his backroom staff at Arsenal from working towards getting the rest of the summer transfer action sorted out or at least in place, but I am starting to get a little concerned about the fact that there is little sign so far of the Gunners clearing out the dead wood from the current squad.

I know that Arsenal are in a strong state, financially speaking but at the same time I do not think that our manager and board are about to change the way they work, which is fundamentally based on balancing the books and operating on a sound business footing rather than being a rich man’s plaything like some clubs in the Premier League and around Europe seem to be.

So it really does not help Wenger’s attemtps to have a strong summer of tansfer spending when he still has the likes of Matthieu Debuchy(70k), Carl Jenkinson(45k), Joel Campbell(?) and Lucas Perez(70k) still drawing a weekly wage and taking up space in the dressing room.

Is this why Wenger has yet to complete the signing of his next player, such as Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City or Thomas Lemar from Monaco? Will Arsenal even be able to get rid of these players who are certainly surplus to requirements?

Bob.

33 Comments

  1. Getting rid of Jenkinson seems extremely difficult.

    Whoever decided to give him 45k a week needs to get fired!

    1. He would go this summer. I don’t think he would want to destroy his career. He is a good player and his time at Westham shows he could play for many premire league clubs. £45,000 aint so bad , especially when you are playing for one of the top clubs. So its not some crazy sum. The fact that he is not on tour means its a good sign.

  2. JW KG MD LP JC CJ CC SC list goes on all need to go. Need EPL players to come in place of them. And 2 big names to come in with one a DM

  3. I think The future of Ozil $anchez and Ox would have a great role to play. Rumours are that OX and Ozil would sign, as for $anchez, we don’t have enough information about him. Wenger has a press coference tomorrow so we shall know more about this situation tomorrow. Australia is the other side of the world with time differences , so we shall know more on Tuesday Morning or so.

    WE need a big squad cause if we have to go far in the europa league, we shall be playing about 60 games next season , so yes we shall not be selling many players as the media is saying.

    Players on the Move?
    1) Gibbs
    2) Debuchy
    3) Carl Jekinson
    4)Lucas perez
    5)Sczeney
    6) Joel Campbell

    Players Injured

    1) Wilshere
    2) Cazorla
    3) Gabrielle
    4) Jeff Rene

    Players on Extended Break
    1) Chambers
    2) Holding
    3) Bellerin
    4) $anchez
    5) Maitland Niles
    6) Mustafi

      1. Thanks just checked it now, I was thinking wenger said the players who played this summer won’t travel to Australia. I guess the Kid just wants to fight for his place and doesn’t think he needs the rest. good on him

  4. I think you have to sell those player to free the budget. Jenkinson and dubchy can’t cut it and Perez wasn’t much better, Joel campbell won’t fit into our new formation either, i think get Lemar and mahrez and sort out Alexis Sanchez too soon.

  5. It all hinges on Alexi I think- until they know what is happening with him then I don’t think they know who to sign.

    It needs sorting one way or another and fast.

    1. The way I see it is – Alexis will be here next season. Whether or not he signs. Arsene wants a title to show for these two seasons that he has left on his contract. Alexis can really help him, and us, losing him to a rival will help them allot. So Arsene will at least get one more season with Alexis.

  6. We need to sell some players not even because of Lemar or Mahrez but because they are not meeting expectations.They are quite a number of underperforming players who need to be sold.This would free up spaces for more effective ones and even reduce wage bill significantly.This is one place where Arsenal usually fails and that is balancing ruthlessness with love of players.The coach just seems to love some players too much to sell them.It’s a shame really.However, a lot of players remain thankful to Arsenal and Wenger because of the way we treat them.I just hope Wenger doesn’t continue failed experiments this season again.

    1. BS about manager loving players too much to sell them, over the past decade Wenger has had a restricted budget and that has lead him to supporting his players to encourage them to perform.

      Wilshere was one of them, not having the money to buy in a top CM talent so Wenger had to look at making that talent, he gave Wilshere his backing and that gamble didn’t pay off.

      Please tell the world how Wilshere wasn’t loaned out as Wenger loves him too much.

      Same could be said for Giroud, look how he got dropped to super sub role last season, Giroud was fit to start most of them and if Wenger love had played a part like you said then Welbeck wouldn’t have been given a chance at the end of last season and Giroud would have had a lot more game time.

      How about Szcz? The GK that Wenger got as a kid and Wenger shown a LOT of faith in, gave him the number 1 shirt and lost it due to smoking and acting like a child. He never got loaned out right? Wenger love meant he stayed and we lost Cech because he was upset that Szcz was number 1?

      You got no idea what you are talking about, I can find examples, REAL INSTANCES which proves what you are saying is nothing more than another idiot jumping on the bandwagon.

      1. Oh! please spare me that.Every manager has a good side and a bad side.I’m not trying to insult him in away.That’s a plain truth about Wenger.Wilshere,Szcz and Giroud are all players who wouldn’t have been given as much chances in another top team.That’s the way he always from when he first came till this day.Everybody knows this.He seems to love some players too much and even refuses to drop them from the squad or even sell them.You can argue all you want but it’s a plain truth.In fact Wenger is known to be one of the few managers who give players chances constantly to prove themselves.Some pay off some don’t.He’s very persistent with players.I urge to shut up and stop your idiotic comments.You go around saying BS and idiot but you’re not any better.What nonsensr.

        1. you dont know wenger hes not a the top of managers i think is average and favare the french players who are not the best also he shoul been fired a while a ago he is very slow at taking decision i would fire him first

      2. Your comments are very naive and idiotic.Even if he had a limited budget at that time it’s not as if every player would cost him a fortune.Also it’s not about the limited budget that makes him support his players to perform.It’s his philiosophy.Even till this day he tends to support and persist with his players to bring out the best in them.If you think I don’t know what am saying wait till they get fit.On Giroud if we are to be honest he should have been dropped long ago even in his second season.It was never rocket science to know that the guy ws not starter quality.Tell me which team would have persisted with Giroud as a starter more than Arsenal.He failed long ago and was really really benched like just last season.As for Szcz Wenger also did persist with him during the times he still wasn’t performing.I hope people won’t deny this.He persisted till he could take no more of it.That was the reason why he brought Ospina into the starting 11.Szcz had been doing these things long ago but yet still persisted.I don’t even think it’s debatable that Wenger persists with some of his players and it’s not even because of budgrt because he does still does it today.

  7. Don’t let Alexis become toxic, get rid of him while we can. His situation should be the determinant of who we sign next or not. I bet another good season for Lemar will raise his tag to unreachable heights. Lemar is good, let’s buy him and deal away with Sanchez if he doesn’t want to commit

  8. Wenger is fully aware of the wages of those above players mentioned, However the signing of Lemar is paramount to him now. After that, he will see what’s happening with sanchez if he stays or leave. If he stays he can just get a CDM and loan some players like wilshere, Scsceny,and sell players like Perez, Gibbs, Debuchy. not sure what he wants to do with Campbell and Akpom. If Sanchez leaves eventually he’s looking to get Mbappe or Martial or Mahrez as his replacement.

  9. Arsenal’s official site posting a picture of Sanchez with the words ” On this day in 2014, we signed A.Sanchez” ? ? So what? ?? What do they want a medal or a pat on the back? Nah, seriously! This is either a build up for something, like a contract extension? ?? Or just a cheesy ass-kiss from Arsenal to Sanchez? ?

      1. And your point is? ???
        Let it go son, I can’t be assed in explaining ?? to peeps that only watched 5 minutes of a movie or just read two sentences of a book, yet they seem to think they know what the story was about. ?

  10. If Arsenal are waiting to sell players before they buy anymore then that would mean that the rumoured war chest was a load of Bull? then,right?

    According to reports Monaco want a decision from Mbappe today, regarding his intentions. Hopefully we will find out more by tonight.

  11. It’s not about the budget, it’s about the premiership RULES! the number of home grown players will make a big impact on who can stay or go. If we remove some of the imports, then we can bring other in. but what we will really struggle to do is have enough home-grown qualified players.

  12. John, Lucas Perez you are vilifying is Avery good player that Wenger shut out because he was identified / scouted by another person other than Wenger. He scored goals for his club Depotivo during 15/16 season and that was the reason he was bought after Welbeck was injured. Wenger was always benching him after a match even when he scored. He scored a hat trick away from home in a Champions League match only to be benched in 4 consecutive matches in the Premier League. In one of the matches against Everton,Arsenal were trailing 1-2 while Lucas was on the bench. When Wenger made a change he still left Lucas ,a goal scorer ,on the bench and put in Eleny ,a defensive mid fielder! Wenger allowed him not more than 950 minutes of play throughout the season in which he scored 7 goals and 6 assists. That is the best goal / minute ratio in the team!Wenger felt guilty and had to admit that he felt “sorry for him” when the season ended because he knows that he is a good versatile player that can play on both wings and
    central attack. Now Wenger wants £17million pounds from buyers , the amount for which he was bought! Do you put such a price tag on a bad player ? It was this type of poor man -management that made Arsenal to drop out of top four as I predicted in February.
    It is very UNFAIR for anybody to include Lucas Perez among poor Arsenal players last season. Wenger was the person who treated him badly and the club paid dearly for it. Wenger according to reports wants to bring in Cauldrado from Juventus for £17m . Cauldrado played 45 matches in all competitions for Juventus last season and scored only 3 goals! Inferior Cauldrado is preferred to an accomplished goal scorer Lucas !
    That is the management style of Mr. Wenger, — frustrating good players like Podolski and Joel Campbell away so that inferior players that are favored would continue to play and cause heartache for fans .

  13. “you are vilifying is Avery good player that Wenger shut out because he was identified / scouted by another person other than Wenger”

    Have a look at his stats, he was never going to be the hold up player and he wasn’t good enough to add to AFC attacks outside of taking shots which was average at best, same issues with Perez as we had with Podolski.

    Perez was another Podolski.

    They offer very little outside of shooting and for a team like AFC who enjoys possession then that style of striker can actually hurt us.

    Perez has a 33% success rate at getting past players, Theo has a 62.5% chance…
    Perez averaged 0.63 interceptions per 90 mins, Theo is 1.01

    Perez goalscoring has been praised…
    Perez has scored 0.32 per 90 mins, Theo has scored 0.58 per 90 mins.

    Perez is not as good as some of you try to make out, he is not good enough for AFC, he is not a striker who will win us the EPL, he is a poor Vardy!

    1. I do agree with Samuel. Perez is quality. It is poor man Management from Wenger. We all depend so much on Sanchez now and he is holding us ti ransom. I would sell Sanchez and keep Perez. A times, a team just have to be flexible. Forget the Arsenal style talk. Forget the hold up play ralk. Do you know that right now according to stats, Cristiano Ronaldo takes more shot than any other player in the world. He shoots accurately also. Te more shots you take, the more likely you score goals. How good is Suarez, Messi and Neymar when it comes to hold up play? I dont know any Arsenal style. The only style we should care about is the one that gives us goals. Goals win games. Cristiano Ronaldo was a very good dribbler at Man United. Quick feet and pace. The Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid changed to a fox in the box. A player that will always take shots. More goals. Very effectivee. So, Perez is a very good striker. His goal away to bournemouth earned us a point. Sell Sanchez, keep Perez and add any other quality winger. The team will adjust. A times, the solution lie within. Trust. It is a team work. I rate Perez highly. He is a top player.

    2. The fact dat u think walcott is better than perez jst shows hw narrow minded u are. God! Wat tv do u watch arsenal matches on? Black nd white tv? Cos dat has to be the only sensible reason why u prefer walcott to perez. I jst had a migraine reading dis piece of garbage u jst dropped.

  14. Samuel Ogungbayi, you have written a speculative post as something researched, even building up a scenario of some conspiracy against the Manager and over what/who? A striker bought, strictly, as cover for an injured 1st teamer.

    For your information, if the manager doesn’t want a player, irrespective of the scout involved, that player will not be joining. Maybe, you should go back to read Perez’s account of when Wenger reached out to him (half a season earlier, by the way) to clarify the circumstances of his purchase. He is a good player, but not just Arsenal standard, as far as his first season was concerned. Some players are squad players (see Elneny, Gabriel, Gibbs) and usually accept their lot patiently, seeing as they play for a great club on good wages (wages being one reason Perez is finding it hard to get a new club). Lucas Perez wants to play; otherwise, I am sure Wenger will retain him for games which suit him.

    The club has access to the state of the art data machines which it relies on to make decisions about players. My bet is Lucas’s stats don’t cut it, despite the goals you referred to.

    1. Forget about the stats. Goals win games. Yes. Some managers a times do show preference for some players. Last season, we had better players than Liverpool. We had a bigger squad than them. Jordan Henderson in cetral midfield. Sane was just a good player in Southampton. But became better at Liverpool. We had The so good Sanchez, Ozil and played two games against Bayern. And we got hammered 10:2. The Juventus team had a team with very good disciplined players. Very effective. Higuain is a top goal scorer. How good is be when it comes to dribbling players? I believe that Perez is a top Striker. Goals are the most important when it comes to football. Goals win games. Forget this Arsenal style. We have not won the league over a decade. I would pick Perez ahead of Welbeck. Welbeck hardly stays fit for half of the season. Sanchez is very selfish. Looses the ball in dangerous positions. We all keep saying Arsenal standard. How many Champions league have we won with the Arsenal standard? When last did that Arsenal Standard win us the EPL? Three games against Bayern, the result is 15:3 with the same Arsenal standard. Wenger bought Chamakh, guy was scoring goals, but he knew that he would go back to the bench the moment RVP was fit a little. RVP need not fight for his place because he was RVP. Wenger was so loyal to him. He would go to the treatmeny table for months at crucial times of the season. And when RVP was finally fit for a full season and scoring the goaks he ditched us for Man United. Chamakh no longer good enough. Confidence issue. Ok it is true Sanchez is a top quality. Better than Coutinho. Better than Perez. But we could not make the top 4 last season with him. We have not gotten into the quarter finals of the champions league even with Sanchez and Ozil. Football is a team game. Goals are important. Lampard is arguably the best midfielder in the league. He takes shots more often. Shoot at sight. Over 200 goals for a midfielder.

      1. Skills, you have rambled on about pretty much every topic that suggests something is wrong with the Arsenal team and management. Fair enough. When in such a quandary. I remind myself that if I knew anything about football management, I probably won’t be at my day job; so, best leave some decisions to those paid to make them.

        I admitted that Perez is a good player, but needs to accept a squad role, at best, at a club like Arsenal. No matter how you see it, Alexis and Ozil are world class. Theo and Welbeck have qualities which suit the Premiership and our team-oriented game (we have to play a striker with versatility and ability to bring others into the play; the reasons we have kept Giroud this long despite obvious limitations) and these Perez doesn’t possess all of, but may have improved on with games. Alas! Arsenal is a team in a hurry and can’t afford to experiment.

        One more thing, don’t mistake “standards” or “team style” with a visa to winning everything. In reality, no team wins everything, anyway. I feel 3 FA cups in 4 years and 2 Shields is fair, for where we are coming from (remember when the taunt was ‘trophyless’? Now, it is ‘no EPL or CL’. Those are not the measure of team values. I know because even AFC Bournemouth has its standards and style, even if they have won nothing.

        Lastly, we usually accuse the manager of not being ruthless. When he does, we still slag him off. He just can’t win, can he? The only reason 28 years old Lucas Perez was left behind is because his agent and he have indicated their preference for him to leave, because he is not happy with a squad role. It works out for us because we need to shed some foreign players anyway. So, good luck to him as he looks for a new club.

  15. I would only accept selling Sanchez after we buy his replacements and for nothing less than the 80 million with add ons if he goes to man city. Walcott should leave to west ham it’s been 11 years and he hasn’t improved a changed of scenery is good for everyone, it’s a World Cup year and if I were him I would want game time to show what I can do to get back in the England squad, he will shine at west ham and with the 20 million we can use it to strengthen our squad or negotiate contracts. Get lemar and sell jenkinson, Walcott, wilshere, scezney, debuchy, Campbell, Lucas Perez… some of these players need to leave and soon, the team need to be ready mentally a lot is expected of them this year. I want a title challenge and a European cup please nothing less!!

  16. To all you Perez lovers he’s not a great player but he isn’t bad either, he’s above average definetly not a starter, he has a deadly left foot but can’t dribble past a player his movement is not arsenal like either, as he won’t feel comfortable exchanging quick passes in tight spaces that will unlock the def that’s why I think wenger doesn’t play him that often, he’s more of a run behind the defense kinda guy basically he’s podolski with less accuracy and Walcott with less pace , I think a return to Spain is best for him just ask Iago Aspas, or soldado sometimes you have to stay in Spain!! We should only sell him for 15 million or more, if not keep him on the bench we got a long season ahead and someone is bound to get injured.

  17. Oh and Perez is inferior to welbeck in pretty much everything except his left foot, injuries aside!

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