Arsenal: Hey, aren’t we forgetting to do something pretty important?

Arsenal had a lot to do this summer, granted, but arguably the biggest thing on the checklist hasn’t been done yet. And no, I don’t mean ‘buy a centerback.’

There’s no downplaying the massive list of things that Arsenal needed to accomplish this summer. Unai Emery is in complete rebuild, and that requires a lot of moving parts and he didn’t even have a Technical Director up until about a few weeks ago.

Now, with the season just a few weeks away, we are getting the sense that business will come down to the wire, and that youth is going to play a big role this season, because we just don’t have anyone else worth the investment of time and resources.

But that’s the thing. Despite the lack of purchases and the focus on developing youth, there is still one big problem getting in the way of everything—we haven’t sold a single person yet.

Like… Carl Jenkinson is still here. Did you not notice?

We went into this summer optimistically saying that Shkodran Mustafi, Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan would all be sold this summer, not just to help fund more moves, but to pave the way for youth.

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The selling spree could have extended to Alex Iwobi and Sead Kolasinac and more, if need be. It’s all in the name of building a new era, right?

But here we are, nearly to August, and not a singe player has been sold. Not just that, but it doesn’t look like a single player will be sold. Meaning that last year may happen all over again, the only difference being that youth is another year closer to making an impact, even if that impac tis blocked by lingering, ineffective senior players.

I find this the most disturbing part of the summer. Not buying is fine. I’m sure we will still pull some moves out. But not selling anyone? Confining our attack to the inconsistencies of Ozil and Mkhitaryan? What’s the objective there?

The only thing I can think is that Unai Emery didn’t want to sell anyone without Edu, same as he didn’t want to buy anyone without him either. But that said, what could we still need to know about Ozil or Mustafi that would necessitate them staying?

It’s all rather baffling, that such a massive need would go blatantly unanswered. There’s still time, but it’s a big ask at this point.