Arsenal summer spending spree drawn up with £120m transfer target

Arsenal will need money. Even with a substantial cash injection being just two matches away from securing, the need for finance to reshape an unbalanced and unhealthy squad is paramount. In order to help that come to fruition, the club will have to sell.

It’s sadly not as simple as that. Firstly buyers will need to be sourced and that alone could prove difficult for two reasons: not many clubs are blessed with cash to splash and not many clubs will want to buy players who aren’t deemed of the standard required to feature in the worst Arsenal side most supporters will have ever known.

From the outside looking in it isn’t overly debatable whose name will be called out in the departure lounge. There is a general consensus on a few players, sentiments echoed by Mikel Arteta as revealed by numerous sources.

football.london have Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah, Matteo Guendouzi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Lucas Torreira and Hector Bellerin among those nearing the exit door, with Dani Ceballos and David Luiz not expected for another spell in north London.

Arsenal summer spending spree – including Yves Bissouma and Julian Brandt – drawn up with £120m transfer target

Calum Chambers, Joe Willock, Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny and Mat Ryan all have uncertain futures too, in what is set to be the biggest summer overhaul in the club’s modern history.

As per the Daily Mail, whichever players are moved on it’s stated that Arteta wants to raise no less than £120m as a result.

What could that purchase? The report lists no less than nine players including Martin Odegaard alternatives Julian Brandt and Nabil Fekir, given that it’s ‘unlikely’ that the Norwegian could be obtained.

Equally, Glen Kamara’s name gets a mention as a distinctly cheaper option in case a move for Yves Bissouma falls through. However, Arsenal are said to be ‘confident’ of tying a deal up for the Malian, as per the Daily Star.

Is £120m wishful thinking? Setting asking prices in the current market is bordering on guesswork, as values are reasonable based on quality but realistic figures with the climate taken into account are harder to pinpoint.

Of the players on Arsenal’s books, those who’ll accrue the biggest numbers will likely be Bellerin, Lacazette – despite having only a year left – and the Hale End graduates. The likes of Nelson, Nketiah, Maitland-Niles and Willock all have age on their side and come with the ‘English tax’, with only latter in with a chance of staying beyond the summer.

An inexperienced recruitment team have an outstanding amount of work on their hands. Vital work, at that. How well Arsenal sell will have immeasurable ramifications on what can arrive in response.

Given the failures to do so in the previous summer, hope among supporters may not be too high: Guendouzi went to a poor German team on loan and Torreira joined a strong La Liga side where he’s just been an extra in training. Nobody wanted to buy either. Arsenal can’t have such an eventuality this time around.