The influx of new recruits has begun under Arsenal’s new coach Unai Emery, with the arrival of Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Dortmund and Stephan Lichsteiner from Juventus.
The complicated rebuilding process appears to be in full swing and at least two more recruits are expected, possibly by the end of next week.
There are a whole host of names constantly linked with the north London club and somewhere within the constant media speculation are Arsenal’s new arrivals, but it does beg the question, who will go the other way through the exit door?
The suggestion in the press was that Emery had a mere £50 million to spend but the current spending spree is likely to cost between £80 and £100 million.
Although it’s rumoured that absentee owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to cough up an extra £20 million, it still leaves a considerable hole which will need to plugged. The only way that can happen is to sell and trim. According to the Mirror, Arsenal are releasing nine players.
Marc Bola, Santi Cazorla, Alexander Crean, Aaron Eyoma, Ryan Huddart, Chiori Johnson, Hugo Keto, Per Mertesacker and Tafari Moore. Although most of the names in the list were expected to leave, the most disappointing departure will be that of our little magician ‘Santi Cazorla’.
Yet, there will almost certainly be more high profile casualties and the likes of Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin, Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny will all be on high alert in regards of their futures.
It may not happen at once, Arsenal may have to plan some departures this transfer windows and more the next but it would be viewed as prudent and would certainly be part of the agreement that CEO Ivan Gazidis has with Unai Emery.
