Arsenal: At £30 million, Alex Iwobi a must-sell

Everton have made a £30 million bid for Alex Iwobi. While the Arsenal winger is talented, at that price, he quickly becomes a must-sell candidate.

When the summer transfer window opened, one thing was made abundantly clear: if Arsenal really wanted to spend and spend big, they would have to first sell players to fund those moves. The self-sustainable model that the football club is run by demands it, especially with the decreasing commercial revenues in the past few years.

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Initially, it was expected that Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Shkodran Mustafi would be some of the key names to be offloaded. All are very well paid and have under-performed in Unai Emery’s first season as head coach. However, with just two more days of the English transfer window remaining, all three are still with the club, and it seems as though at least two will remain throughout the coming season.

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But that does not negate the need to sell players to fund other moves, it must simply be other players that are sold. And with a matter of hours remaining, it seems as though another candidate has come to light, one Alex Iwobi.

Late Wednesday morning, it was revealed that Everton submitted a £30 million bid for the Nigerian international. The offer was swiftly rejected. As of writing, Everton are yet to return with an improved offer, although it is expected that negotiations will continue into deadline day on Thursday.

If Arsenal wanted to offload a reserve player at one position to fund a move for a starting player at another, more needy position, this was it.

Now, I understand rejecting the £30 million offer. Everton seem a little desperate and Arsenal want to sell for as high a price as possible. That makes sense. But if Everton are unwilling to rise their offer significantly, I still feel it would be sensible of the Gunners to accept a £30 million offer.

I have long been a defender of Iwobi, despite the incessant criticism he receives some portions of the fan base, and I do feel he is a far more useful and impactful player than many give him credit for. That said, with the signing of Nicolas Pepe, emergence of Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Martinelli and even Bukayo Saka, all who are significantly younger and with higher ceilings, and the greater competition in central midfield with Dani Ceballos now at the club and Ozil seemingly revitalised in pre-season, there is no longer a clear place for Iwobi in the team.

He will still make spot starts here and there, of course, and he is certainly more prepared for regular football than Saka and Martinelli, but do Arsenal really need him? Would his absence be that hard felt? The answer, for all of his overlooked questions, is no. And if you can sell a player who you don’t really need for £30 million to fund a move at a position where you do really need someone, it is a no-brainer.

I like Iwobi and I would be sad to see him leave the club. But £30 million would go a long way to signing a new centre-half. And between the two, there is only one winner. Iwobi, at £30 million, is must-sell.