Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has told Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger that he needs to rid his side of up to seven weak squad members, while bringing in three big signings.
The Frenchman is believed to have been tasked with a fast and effective transfer window, with the board said to have been unhappy with the saga which ran until deadline day in the previous summer.
Arsenal are currently linked with a large number of players, and are supposedly working hard on strengthening the team, and Charlie Nicholas has now claimed they need to replace as many as seven players.
He said: “Wenger needs to unload six or seven of the weaker players.
“And, rather than signing more squad players, he must bring in another world-class defender, a top midfielder and a 20 plus goal striker.
“He needs another top midfield player with Santi Cazorla out.
“Raphael Varane or Virgil van Dijk would be ideal at centre-back and Alexandre Lacazette is the striker I wanted and hopefully the Atletico Madrid transfer ban means we’ve got a chance.
“We need a solution to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil now.
“I think Ozil will stay but Sanchez will probably go and losing 30 goals is really damaging.”
Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny all look set on leaving the club, while Hector Bellerin looks increasingly likely to push for a switch to Barcelona. The Spaniard would surely not be included in that ‘weaker’ bracket, but who could he mean?
Which players could Nicholas be thinking of when he says ‘weaker players’? Would Coquelin have to be included in that bracket?
Pat J