Arsenal: At this point, what players aren’t going to leave?

There is always going to be some turnover when a new manager takes control of a club, but at this point, who isn’t going to leave Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger built a culture at Arsenal that favored certain types of players. He built that for over two decades, with very little risk of a massive exodus because players knew exactly what they were getting when they came to the Emirates, and that was a major draw for most. It was stability. They had a manger that was arguably the most respected in the world.

As we all know, turning over from Wenger to anyone was always going to cause a certain degree of upheaval, and that was going to mean high player turnover.

Surprisingly, not many left after the first year, because Emery did an admirable job of carrying on the culture that Wenger left behind. Mostly because he didn’t have much choice, he didn’t get a lot of new players to experiment with.

But this year, there have been so many rumors of players leaving that I’m honestly wondering who will actually be left at the end of it all.

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That list includes but is not limited to: Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lucas Torreira, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Dani Ceballos (end of loan), Calum Chambers, Bernd Leno, Emi Martinez, Sead Kolasinac and I’m sure I’m forgetting some more. Hell, put Unai Emery on that list too.

That essentially encompasses everyone that isn’t under the age of 23 and still hopeful that they can be the next generation of great talent. Now, there are certain players in that list—Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers, who I don’t think are really at risk of leaving, as long as Unai Emery uses them properly.

Which probably isn’t a coincidence. If you look at that list, barring Lucas Torreira, they are mostly the Wenger incumbents. So while it is slightly disturbing that so many players are being linked to exits, some of which are very credible (Xhaka, Ozil, Aubameyang, Torreira), it’s not all that shocking, and it could be a necessary step to help Unai Emery establish his own brand of football, which he has heretofore been unable to do. Of course, maybe that’s just my blind optimism speaking.

Of course, none of this matters if Unai Emery leaves too, because then we just have to go through the process all over again with someone else.