Arsenal: Retention more important than recruitment or replacement

While the modern media may focus on who Arsenal may bring to the club, their most important and influential tasks rely on their retention, not recruitment, of stars.

Arsenal have undoubtedly had a positive start to the summer transfer window. While there is still much work to be done, Arsene Wenger has already completed two extremely astute additions. They may come at opposite ends of the spectrum — one on a free and the other for a club-record fee — but they are nonetheless important and exciting.

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However, although the early recruitment of the summer is promising and suggests that Wenger is finally learning from the hesitation that has crippled the progress of the club in recent years, there are still many needs that must be addressed for this to be considered a successful summer.

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Many of the more excitable, optimistic fans and members of the media may focus on the potential recruitment of the club, what players need to be brought to the Emirates to mount a serious and genuine title challenge. But the priority for the club now, should not be recruitment. Rather, given the current makeup of the squad, it should be retention.

Of the likely starting XI, there are four players who have been heavily linked (and not just speculative links) with an exit this summer. Those are Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Hector Bellerin. Of those four, only Bellerin has more than a year remaining on his contract and holds little power when it comes to negotiating for a move if his head was swayed.

The https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBRHOLr34Emost likely to leave are Oxlade-Chamberlain, who, it has been reported, is unwilling to sign a new contract due to frustrations with a lack of trust, support and admiration from Wenger, and Sanchez, who is a player of a calibre perhaps above what Arsenal can claim to command or attract given their lack of Champions League football.

If Wenger is able to convince all four to stay in North London, then given the additions of Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal could lay claim to a squad challenging the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.

Even if three of the four were to stay, that could be considered a huge win for a club who had been able to stem the downward tide of selling their more established and prominent players in recent years.

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This is a crucial summer for the Gunners. With Wenger entering the closing stages of his tenure, trying to reshape his squad for another title tilt, it is vital that he and the board are able to go about their business efficiently and successfully. However, for now, the focus must be on retention, not recruitment.