Summer Transfer Temps and Journeymen

[I am invisible]

So, we've signed Willian, had an offer accepted for Gabriel, made offers for Aouar and Partey and are giving Auba a pay rise. Not sure what the plan is for Ceballos, but I'm guessing we'll at least be trying to get him on another loan. Regardless of how many of those things actually end up happening, I'm assuming there must be some kind of 'best case scenario' plan in place to finance it, if by some miracle they do all land? That's got to mean we're looking at some serious departures, right?

Right?

[Chippy]

So, we've signed Willian, had an offer accepted for Gabriel, made offers for Aouar and Partey and are giving Auba a pay rise. Not sure what the plan is for Ceballos, but I'm guessing we'll at least be trying to get him on another loan. Regardless of how many of those things actually end up happening, I'm assuming there must be some kind of 'best case scenario' plan in place to finance it, if by some miracle they do all land? That's got to mean we're looking at some serious departures, right?

Right?

Most certainly!

Torreira and Guendouzi should fetch some good cash!

Mustafi, Holding, Sokratis and the rest of our Championship defenders should also fetch a few shillings

Get them done already!

[I am invisible]

Most certainly!

Torreira and Guendouzi should fetch some good cash!

Mustafi, Holding, Sokratis and the rest of our Championship defenders should also fetch a few shillings

Get them done already!

Getting it done will be tough, but I think we can at least assume that there's intent there.

If we're serious about trying to get both Aouar and Partey then there's no way we don't sell / swap Lacazette - otherwise I don't see how else we fund everything.

And, yeah, Guendouzi and Torreira look like the other obvious money-makers / makeweights.

Easy, quick wins are surely Mkhitaryan, Elneny, Mavropanos, and anyone else I've forgotten about who's currently on loan (please tell me we've sold Ospina!).

Then, as you say, we've got to cut the surplus players we have in each area. If Gabriel does sign then we're going to have 8 CBs in the first team, which is mental! Half of those guys need to go and, assuming Gabriel, Saliba, Mari or Luiz are all safe, that means a P45 for Sokratis, Chambers, Holding and Mustafi.

Kolasinac needs to go to - they guy adds nothing but expense. Hopefully we'll have enough cover at LB with Tierney backed up by Saka (plus AMN and I believe Soares can both play LB if needed) to not need a replacement?

We probably don't need 3 RBs either, so I would guess either AMN or Bellerin might be sold IF a tempting enough offer comes in. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we kept all 3, depending on how man CMs we lose / add and whether we ditch Kolasinac without replacing him.

I'm also wondering if there might be a surprise departure or two somewhere, if we really need the extra funds to get our main deals over the line? Maybe Nelson, if a decent bid comes in (I think we'll be pretty well covered on the wings with Pepe, Willian, Saka and Martinelli)? And maybe even one of the keepers? I love have two goalies of that quality fighting it out, but it may be a luxury we can't afford and don't really deserve, if the rest of the team still needs so much work?

I don't see Xhaka going anywhere this summer - if we're looking at losing Guendouzi and Torreira, and maybe Ceballos if we can't work something out with Madrid, then it will leave us way too light on midfield options. I think he'll be go eventually, but probably next summer, when there's less to think about.

Even without Xhaka, though, that's still a lot of potential outs...

Lacazette
Guendouzi
Torreira
Mkhitaryan
Elneny
Mavropanos
Sokratis
Chambers
Holding
Mustafi
Kolasinac

? AMN / Bellerin ?
? Nelson ?
? Leno / Martinez ?

The really crazy thing is we could afford to lose 11 or 12 players from that list, whilst only adding 5, and it would still leave us with plenty of depth in each area - just goes to show how much fat there is in this squad at the moment!

[Mac76]

Not sure about losing both Holding and Chambers, if i could only keep one it would be Chambo

Mavs is already out on loan again i think

Your question marks are exactly that, if we lose a goalie i'd prefer to keep Emi tbh even though Leno's very good

[GP]

In terms of the goalies, I'd sell whichever we get a decent offer for.

Not bothered which.

[selassie]

Fwiw, I think Gabriel basically ours at this point - I’d be surprised if he ended up somewhere else now, especially given how long it’s been common knowledge that he’s up for sale and that rival offers have been made and accepted. These other clubs could have got involved way before now if their interest was genuine...

Aye, me too. Been looking through the tabloids today online and most of the stories sound like bullsh*t to me. All things point to Gabriel signing for us.

[Chippy]

Getting it done will be tough, but I think we can at least assume that there's intent there.

If we're serious about trying to get both Aouar and Partey then there's no way we don't sell / swap Lacazette - otherwise I don't see how else we fund everything.

And, yeah, Guendouzi and Torreira look like the other obvious money-makers / makeweights.

Easy, quick wins are surely Mkhitaryan, Elneny, Mavropanos, and anyone else I've forgotten about who's currently on loan (please tell me we've sold Ospina!).

Then, as you say, we've got to cut the surplus players we have in each area. If Gabriel does sign then we're going to have 8 CBs in the first team, which is mental! Half of those guys need to go and, assuming Gabriel, Saliba, Mari or Luiz are all safe, that means a P45 for Sokratis, Chambers, Holding and Mustafi.

Kolasinac needs to go to - they guy adds nothing but expense. Hopefully we'll have enough cover at LB with Tierney backed up by Saka (plus AMN and I believe Soares can both play LB if needed) to not need a replacement?

We probably don't need 3 RBs either, so I would guess either AMN or Bellerin might be sold IF a tempting enough offer comes in. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we kept all 3, depending on how man CMs we lose / add and whether we ditch Kolasinac without replacing him.

I'm also wondering if there might be a surprise departure or two somewhere, if we really need the extra funds to get our main deals over the line? Maybe Nelson, if a decent bid comes in (I think we'll be pretty well covered on the wings with Pepe, Willian, Saka and Martinelli)? And maybe even one of the keepers? I love have two goalies of that quality fighting it out, but it may be a luxury we can't afford and don't really deserve, if the rest of the team still needs so much work?

I don't see Xhaka going anywhere this summer - if we're looking at losing Guendouzi and Torreira, and maybe Ceballos if we can't work something out with Madrid, then it will leave us way too light on midfield options. I think he'll be go eventually, but probably next summer, when there's less to think about.

Even without Xhaka, though, that's still a lot of potential outs...

Lacazette
Guendouzi
Torreira
Mkhitaryan
Elneny
Mavropanos
Sokratis
Chambers
Holding
Mustafi
Kolasinac

? AMN / Bellerin ?
? Nelson ?
? Leno / Martinez ?

The really crazy thing is we could afford to lose 11 or 12 players from that list, whilst only adding 5, and it would still leave us with plenty of depth in each area - just goes to show how much fat there is in this squad at the moment!

Blimey! You are so right! I had actually forgotten about Mkhitaryan, Elneny and Mavropanos.

We have so many surplus players What the hell have the club been doing stock piling all of these average players?

I would blame Wenger, but I wont because Letters will probably ban me

[I am invisible]

Aye, me too. Been looking through the tabloids today online and most of the stories sound like bullsh*t to me. All things point to Gabriel signing for us.

Plus I kind of think that your PSGs and Man Us will probably be shopping at the Upamecano end of the market - they don't need to piss around with data and scouting, and can just wade in with 90m for whoever they want.

[I am invisible]

Not sure about losing both Holding and Chambers, if i could only keep one it would be Chambo

Mavs is already out on loan again i think

I'm not really fussed about Mavs, tbh - he's a loose end, and the designer in me likes thinks to be neat and orderly, but he's also relatively inexpensive, and he probably won't bring in much money, so I guess we can afford to wait and see if Germany can turn him into a serious player for us.

The one thing that's making me think that we should maybe keep one of those CBs is Luiz: he's only on a one year extension, and he's also only really useful in a back 3. And if we're still going to be playing a back 3 every now and then, then we might night need more than 4 CBs across the season?

Careful what you wish for though, because we might not end up with the option that you want! If I were Holding or Chambers, I'd be looking at the players coming in and thinking that I'm basically going to be fighting to be 4th or 5th choice at Arsenal? If they were on £100k/wk+ contracts then they might be happy with that (in which case you wouldn't really want them anyway), but I think the two of them are actually on relatively low contracts, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if they both requested moves? If any one of them ended up staying, there's a fair chance it could end up being Mustafi!

[I am invisible]

...Your question marks are exactly that, if we lose a goalie i'd prefer to keep Emi tbh even though Leno's very good

In terms of the goalies, I'd sell whichever we get a decent offer for.

Not bothered which.

Unless we absolutely, desperately need the cash to get a really important deal done I think I'd fight to keep both, for at least another season.

When both are at the top of their games I think I'd prefer Emi because of his catching and his footwork, even if Leno might shade it as a shot-stopper. BUT... let's not forget Emi has only been in the side since Brighton, after the restart, so I'd hate to bin-off Leno and then find out that it was just a purple patch of form. I remember back in '98, Alex Manninger went on the most incredible run between the sticks to see us through the second half of the season, and we all thought he was going to be the long-term successor to Seaman. But then he just kind of fizzled out and never looked anything that special again.