For the record, I’m open to buying players who are doping - nothing else has worked.
For the record, I’m open to buying players who are doping - nothing else has worked.
Looks like it will be a major clear out this summer.
Some journos reporting Leno, Xhaka, Bellerin, Luiz and Willian all want out.
Laca, Elneny, Nketiah and Nelson must surely be up for sale as well.
Plus the loan players without a future, Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, AMN, Mavropanos and maybe Willock.
That's a huge number of outgoings, can't say I'd be too bothered with any of them leaving though.
Yeah, a lot of big talk about needing to be “ruthless” this summer - hopefully that means more than just firing Ruth from accounts.
I’ve seen some publications mentioning 5 of 6 names, but my count of players that need to go is closer to 20!
Leno
Runnarsson
Bellerin
Luiz
Chambers / Holding / Mavs (sell 2, keep 1)
Kolasinac
*Elneny
Ceballos
Torreira
Guendouzi
AMN
*Willock
Ødegaard
*Willian
Nelson
Nketiah
Lacazette
(*Wouldnt be surprised if these players stayed)
Then there’s Xhaka who is down to his final 2 years - if there’s no new contract offer / he’s not signing an extension, then we’ll need to make decision there too.
And we’d have to consider any serious offers for Auba and Pepe too
I won’t defend Arteta for much right now, but when you see it listed out like that, that’s an incredible amount of players that he either doesn’t need or want, can’t count on or can’t afford to keep!
(And, yes, I know 2 or 3 of those names are self-inflicted, but still... what a mess!)
Yeah, I have a feeling our hand may be forced with Xhaka - if we are looking to bring in another CM (and the names we're being linked with aren't backups), then he's not going to stick around to sit on the bench when he could probably go back to Germany or to Italy and go and play for CL side.
I'm not sure he's one we would have actively sought to move on otherwise, given the sheer number of other 'outs' we might be looking at (inc. up to 7 other CMs!), but if he's down to his final 2 years, and he's not committing further, then, by the club's own self-imposed standard, we have to cash in and move on.
On the plus side, we have volume on our side, even if not too many of those players would bring in huge fees. Plus the squad was already bloated, even with extra European games to manage - with just domestic games we’ll probably only need to replace 1 in 3 players.
Bissouma is there on a plate, if we want him - he’s already handed a transfer request in, and he’s mates with Pepe and Gabriel from Lille. Probably too easy and obvious for our lot though.
One interesting rumour I heard was Zakaria, with Xhaka going the other way back to BMG - probably just some website putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5, but it’s an interesting idea. If Xhaka does go then we’ll need 2 CMs and that would be a neat solution for one of them.
On a related note, fair play to Xhaka if he does genuinely want out - that would make him one of our only wantaway players who’s been professional enough to keep doing his job to the best of his abilities each week. He may be limited in a lot of ways, but at least he shows up.
Luiz confirmed as leaving this summer. I think he has been better this season but still glad we are moving on. Hopefully Saliba can make his mark.