The Arsenal defence has rightfully come in for a mass of criticism this season culminating in three end of season games where we conceded three goals in each game losing all three.
It is clear that an overhaul is well due, however, we do need some perspective, two of our top defenders Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding have been sidelined for a long period and I am absolutely certain they would have made a difference.
Konstantinos Mavropanos is a work in progress but showed me enough in the few glimpses I saw of him this season to believe he could easily play a major role in the next campaign, so in Bellerin, Holding and Mavropanos we have three young defenders that could easily be the core for years to come, all they need is a bit of experienced back-up to help them along.
Stephan Lichtsteiner is leaving, Nacho Monreal is past it and Sokratis Papastathopoulos is just not good enough, so in terms of experience that leaves Laurent Koscielny and he is getting on a bit now ,and so a new experienced defender is desperately sought, probably two.
Shkodran Mustafi has lost the confidence of the fans and may well be sold but I would personally give him one more season, he has got better when others have gone backwards, though when I say better I mean in just the last two games. Obviously, he has had a bad season but I am convinced he is better than what we have seen.
Sead Kolasinac is inconsistent but that could easily be rectified and another season with us could see him come on leaps and bounds.
Finally, we have Carl Jenkinson and Calum Chambers and at best they will be squad players, though if Unai Emery did put some confidence in either who knows what we could get in return.
So, in conclusion, I believe we need to offload Lichtsteiner, Monreal, Sokratis and Koscielny, sign two new experienced defenders, give Mustafi and Kolasinac another season, give a chance to Jenkinson and Chambers and build the defence around the young trio of Holding, Bellerin and Mavropanos.
We would need at least a new left back and possibly another central defender slash right back with the criteria being that they would need to be experienced because the highest age of Holding, Bellerin and Mavropanos is just 24.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles is not included even though he can play at right-back, because I see him much more as a midfielder and will include him in my analysis of our midfielders.