Edu outlines Arsenal transfer plans following Oleksandr Zinchenko arrival

Arsenal will look to offload unwanted players after making Oleksandr Zinchenko their third major new signing of the summer.

Zinchenko this week joined from Manchester City in a £32million deal.

Arsenal have also signed Gabriel Jesus for £45m and Fabio Vieira from Proto for £34m.

They have also brought in Brazilian teenage winger Marquinhos from Sao Paulo for around £3m and concluded a deal for USA goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Arsenal technical director Edu has revealed they will now focus on balancing the squad.

Nuno Tavares is in talks over a loan move to Atalanta, while Nicolas Pepe, Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno could also leave.

Edu said: “We have a plan for every single player in the squad and that’s why I said there’s still a lot to do in this transfer window because we have to balance the squad in the best way possible.

“For the players who probably aren’t going to have a lot of minutes here, we have to expose the players to have minutes in another place to keep developing the player, keep the player’s valuation et cetera, so that’s the way we plan it.”

On the signing of Zinchenko, Edu said: “I’m very pleased to see how we’re working as a team here in the club.

“We put a plan together and some plans in place and Zinchenko was on the list. We’ve been very proactive to start to talk to the agents, to start to talk to Manchester City and we are pleased to have the player here because he has the attributes which I am sure are going to put our squad in a different level.”

On the business Arsenal have done so far this summer, Edu said: “I’m pleased, but to say how close is difficult because there’s still a lot to do, we are in the middle of the transfer window and things can happen.

“What we have to be is really focused and be prepared for every single situation, opportunities maybe can happen, clubs can sometimes come to us to see if there is a possibility to get players on loan or buy players.

“We just have to be prepared and I think we are very much prepared for almost everything.”