Eleven Arsenal players face uncertain future as Mikel Arteta plans Premier League upgrade
Arsenal have a busy summer ahead as Mikel Arteta looks to strengthen his side ahead of another season where the club are aiming for a third successive title challenge. However, the reality that sporting director Edu Gaspar faces is one where the squad will need trimming before additions of a grander scale can be acquired.
Despite question marks over depth, the club has in fact reached a stage where come the summer as many as eleven of their senior team could yet be moved on to make room for the players being linked in their droves. Arsenal have been eliminated early from multiple cup competitions and having players who offer competitive depth to established starters will be a priority.
How players leave however remains a problem and at the end of the 2023 summer window, Arsenal found that plenty had yet to find the right pathway away and some simply left on loan, kicking the can down the road for another year. Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga are perhaps two such players although the latter’s impressive displays at Luton Town may have improved the Gunners' chances, the same cannot be said for the Portuguese full-back.
Kieran Tierney joined Real Sociedad for the season and with time remaining on his deal, Arsenal will hope to get a good fee for the Scottish international. Left-back remains one of the most competitive and well-stocked areas of the squad and a redemption arc for Tierney is therefore highly unlikely.
Moving to players in the existing squad and a trio of Hale End graduates could see their time for the club come to a close. The two who are most expected to leave are Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson who signed new deals in recent years but it has not changed much regarding their potential game time, in fact in the case of Nketiah it has arguably diminished even further.
Emile Smith Rowe is the third and one who will see division among supporters as to their views on whether he should be sold. He has shown to be of starting quality but a combination of injuries and a sense of puzzlement about where his best role in this current team is means that the club may indeed be open to serious offers for the England international.
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Gabriel Jesus is, surprisingly for some, one of the other players that the club are open to a sale of. Just four league goals this season have simply not been enough to show Arteta why he is irreplaceable and with a lot of striker talk selling the Brazilian to reinvest in a new centre-forward makes a lot of sense.
The same can be said for his former Manchester City teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko. When the Ukrainian said in an interview he believed 2023 signing Jurrien Timber might be even better than him despite his significantly younger age that raised suspicions that Zinchenko’s time at the club could indeed be on a shorter timer than many expected and with only two years left on his deal with no sign of renewal, that may be approaching this very summer.
Thomas Partey has just one year remaining on his Arsenal contract and has already been linked with an exit. With Jorginho looking likely to stay for the foreseeable and a midfield signing in the offing, the regularly injured Ghanaian might see a switch to Saudi Arabia as a good end-of-career move.
Fabio Vieira has not been able to find a way into the first team due to competition and injury. The Portuguese midfielder was a shock £34million signing from FC Porto and has not been able to convince supporters of his quality and therefore a summer departure wouldn’t be surprising.
Lastly is Aaron Ramsdale whose minutes have been entirely restricted by the loan signing of David Raya. The likelihood is Raya will be arriving on a permanent basis in the summer and therefore should the England keeper want a route to more playing time, leaving the club appears the only pathway.