For the first time in years, Arsenal could be on the brink of raising a serious heap of cash by offloading several fringe players. Kieran Gibbs, Calum Chambers, Wojciech Szczesny, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Carl Jenkinson and Lucas Perez are all tipped to depart in a mass exodus that could raise around £65 million and reduce a spiralling wage bill. They could even be joined by Jack Wilshere if he is sold to Sampdoria. It would mark a step change for the club as Arsenal have been reluctant to sell in recent years, but could be vital as the market is inflated and Arsenal’s targets are looking very costly indeed.
In 2012/13 the Gunners raised £55 million by selling Robin van Persie, Alex Song and a few others, and after that, they stopped becoming a selling club and started showing a lot more ambition. The stadium was finally paid off, gone were the days of flogging star players and in came the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. In 2013/14, they made just £10 million from player sales, and in 2014/15 it was £23 million, most of which came from offloading the unwanted Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona. In 2015/16 Arsenal sold only Lucas Podolski for £2 million, and last season they raised just £6 million in player sales (Serge Gnabry and Wellington Silva).
Arsenal now have quite a bloated squad and that means a big wage bill. A club’s wage bill is only allowed to increase by a certain percentage year-on-year, and with the likes of Ozil and Sanchez demanding big contracts to stay and new recruits also sure to come with hefty salaries, they need to free up some room. The likes of Gibbs, Chambers, Szczesny, Debuchy, Ospina, Jenkinson and Perez are very well compensated for sitting on the Arsenal bench or going out on loan, and none of them are likely to get anywhere near the starting 11 next season, so it would make sense to sell them. Only Ospina is second choice in any position, with the rest third choice or worse, so a backup keeper may be needed, or Emiliano Martinez could be promoted. Arsenal have about £200 million to spend this summer and have used up only a quarter of it on Alexandre Lacazette’s signing. But they are in for Monaco duo Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe, and the combined fee for them is said to be around £200 million, so they will need to boost their coffers through player sales to make it happen. Alternative targets Arsenal are being linked with are all around the £50 million mark, from Riyad Mahrez to Virgil Van Dijk, and Arsene Wenger looks set to deliver on his promise to sign only a few players of the highest quality rather than hailing a mass arrival.
If he lets players like Chambers and particularly Wilshere leave, Wenger will be displaying a ruthless side that we have not seen for years. No longer is he planning for the future: he has the financial firepower to spend big and knows he is running out of time to win more titles and improve his legacy, so he is buying for the present. He is targeting players at the peak of their abilities, or in the case of Lemar and Mbappe players that are so talented, they would walk straight into the starting 11. If he gets tough with Sanchez and Ozil and forces them to stay it will be another sign of him going all out for the title in 2017/18.
Can he win it at long last? For the first time in his reign, Arsenal will not be distracted by playing in the Champions League, as their rivals will. Wenger is not expected to take the Europa League seriously and will field reserve sides to preserve his star players’ energy for an assault on the Premiership title. It might be an idea to back Arsenal to do it, each-way at least. Check a list of the top betting sites, find one with competitive odds and you will get 11/1 or 12/1 on Arsenal to win the title next season. Their rivals are strong and displaying a great deal of ambition in the transfer market themselves, but they all have their weaknesses too and Arsenal can give them all a run for their money.
