Arsenal: David Ospina should be first domino to fall

Fenerbahce are reportedly pursuing David Ospina once again. Arsenal have several sales to make this summer. It makes sense that Ospina is the first domino to fall.

Such was the depravity of the squad, entering the summer, much of the attention surrounding Arsenal was centred on potential incomings. Even with a reported limited budget, everybody knew that this team needed some serious sprucing up. And, judging by their activity thus far, it seems as though Ivan Gazidis and his band of transfer buddies agree.

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The Gunners have all but made four signings this summer — Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno — and have only suffered departures of the retiring or expiring contract kind — Per Mertesacker, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere.

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Not much has been made of the potential exits this summer, and there will be some with Unai Emery bringing new perspectives and plans to the club. The likes of Joel Campbell, Carl Jenkinson, Lucas Perez and Chuba Akpom, players that are on the bubble of the squad and will struggle to get game time without a major shift in approach and opinion, will all likely leave, either on a permanent or temporary basis.

And there are others. Shkodran Mustafi could leave if Emery does not rate him as highly as Arsene Wenger did. Alexandre Lacazette may not like his role as the reserve striker. Aaron Ramsey may reject a new contract to try and force a move having seen the successes of players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after their departure. But before all of those, it makes sense that David Ospina is the first domino to fall.

The Colombian, who is currently at the World Cup, is the player with fewest questions. Where there is the chance that Emery could strangely like a Campbell or a Perez, he has displayed his opinion of Ospina already, and Petr Cech for that matter, by spending £20 million on a new goalkeeper.

The absolute best that Ospina can hope for is a reserve role, and he might not even get that with Cech, Emiliano Martinez and Matt Macey all vying for the role. I would be surprised if he wins that battle; I would also be surprised if Ospina is happy with that role even if he does win the battle. Either way, an exit makes the most sense by far.

There are growing links with Fenerbahce, a club that has been reportedly interested in Ospina in the past, and an exit seems to be looming, even with the World Cup making the logistics of any sale somewhat awkward.

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There will be plenty of departures in the coming weeks as Emery continues to fine-tune his squad. Decisions will have to be made and plenty of players will be sold. But Ospina could well be one of the first. There’s not much reason to keep him.