Arsenal: Should Arsenal get worse before they get better?

There have been plenty of rumors linking first-team players with exits this summer, but should Arsenal consider selling Xhaka, Lacazette or Aubameyang?

There has been plenty of rumors linking some of Arsenal‘s top players with moves away this summer. Those rumors include potential future captain Xhaka moving to Inter Milan and arguably Arsenal’s two best players from last season, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, being on the wish list of Barcelona and a few Chinese Super League clubs.

Most surprisingly, and most comically, has been the recent rumor that Gazidis and AC Milan are interested in acquiring Lucas Torreira who signed just last summer, but we won’t even entertain that idea.

However, with the prices associated with some of these top players, the question begs to be asked: should Arsenal consider getting worse before they get better?

Personally, I don’t believe this is the way to approach things, but the argument is there to be made, so let’s explore what that would look like.

They recently saw a handful of first-team players head for the exit door with recent stories linking Koscielny, Kolasinac, Monreal, and others with moves that would see them follow those players out of Arsenal.

On top of the players mentioned, question marks hang over the likes of Mustafi, Elneny, and Ozil heading into the new season, leaving very few players in the first-team safe.

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Arsenal is in the midst of a rebuilding process so we shouldn’t be too surprised with the amount of rumors floating around, but how much is too much? When transitioning under a new coach, change is always going to happen, but to become and remain successful, the club needs to maintain some level of continuity in the squad moving into next season.

The team currently holds about 15 players who should definitely be there come the start of next season, including our two strikers and Xhaka. Remove one or two from that list and it would leave the squad quite bare of solid returning first-team starters.

Think about it, if they were to sell Aubameyang or Lacazette and the other suffered an injury early in the season, where does that leave this club up front?

Sure, selling the likes of Xhaka, Lacazette or Aubameyang would increase the summer transfer budget tremendously, with each of them worth at least €50m plus, but at the same time would make this side worse than they were last season, hindering their chances of progressing.

It’s true that their sales would allow them to pursue some of their top summer transfer targets, making it possible to sign multiple players at positions of need. But in doing so, they would significantly worsen and would have even more to have to build on. The players they’d would bring in would still need time to adapt to their new team, surroundings and potentially new country and league.

While some of the first team player’s times are up at the Emirates, they can’t afford to get worse before they get better, and by selling the likes of Xhaka or Aubameyang would do just that.

Their main focus now must be on shipping out the players who no longer have a future at Arsenal and bringing in the correct players to fill the gaps and support and learn from the top players in the squad. Arsenal has the means to do so without selling their top players.