Arsenal: The 5 senior players who want summer transfer exit

Arsenal are in the midst of a mist. A cloud of uncertainty with some trying to scramble their way back to base and others looking for an exit route. Those guiding them are struggling to either have their voices heard or are being actively ignored. This summer means everything for the club.

Anyone under the illusion that the situation isn’t as dire as it is must come to terms with the reality. It’s human instinct to look for reassurance in such troubling times but sometimes the truth can be toughest to swallow.

Wholesale changes will take place in the playing squad after years of reshuffling higher up, the one place right now that looks like being untouched as the summer draws near.

Whether it should see further alterations is irrelevant as the inexperienced heads leading this revamp don’t look like being removed or replaced, with the mistakes made thus far hoped to be learned upon fast enough to embark on a clear and effective squad-rebuild.

Arsenal: The 5 senior players who want summer transfer exit as Mikel Arteta prepares for hectic squad rebuild

Those absolved from blame and being instilled as the foundation for where the team will be built around are clear: the Hale End core and a selection of recent additions.

Then there is the senior group, the only certified ‘leaders’ in the dressing room.

Many of the senior side were axed in January with the disruptive trio of Sead Kolasinac, Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil being allowed (forced?) to leave, leaving a select few to be the backbone for the season.

This diabolical campaign has done little to lift the mood, instead plunging it deeper into doubt, and The Athletic report that five of the current senior core want out this summer. Some of whom helped oversee the current plight themselves.

Finance will guide outgoing decisions with potential cash injections and wages removed from the salary bill largely dictating what can be done in regards to additions. Of course, selling these players in the first place will be excruciatingly hard.

So, who wants out?

David Luiz

A fairly simple one to execute.

David Luiz’s second season in north London is drawing to a close and given his recent hamstring injury, the Brazilian may have already played his final game for the club. Penning him down on another year-long deal for the current campaign was a move largely lambasted by supporters, who’d grown tired of the irregularities of his performances.

Clangers and red cards were only marginally offset by occasional dominating displays, yet this season it’s hard to argue against him being the side’s best central defender overall.

His skillset is unmatched across the squad but at 34 years old he constitutes the kind of deal Arsenal should no longer be pursuing. With no European football next season and William Saliba to return from his loan in Nice, the reasons for Luiz being given another contract grow thinner. Had another season of Europe been secured the argument would be stronger.

However, where the issue lies is with his leadership. A loved member of the squad by all in it, his guidance and experience have made him highly regarded in the group. With Arsenal criticised for a lack of leaders, losing another ensures more must be brought in.

Bernd Leno

12 months on from winning the battle for the No. 1 spot after being entrusted to do so by Mikel Arteta, Bernd Leno is also keen to move on.

The club are also open to listening to offers for him, as they are with the vast majority of the squad, which immediately points to an error of judgment last summer: why was Martinez sold and not Leno?

Again this tiresome debate comes down to finance. The £20m offer from Aston Villa constituted a £20m profit on a player with but a handful of Premier League appearances to his name. Was (is) he the better goalkeeper? It’s hard to argue otherwise. However, a frightening financial situation meant the Gunners’ hands were almost forced, not least since Leno won’t have had many offers that would have garnered Arsenal any profit on their £22.5m outlay.

A wrong decision in terms of quality, although understandable given the crippling finances.

Leno has since dropped further errors dotted between a string of excellent performances – the like that are easily forgotten after a mistake is made – but if he doesn’t feel happy or willing to stay aboard, then off he goes.

Sell him and get someone committed who will hopefully put the goalkeeping department at ease for the first time in years.

Hector Bellerin

One that comes as little surprise is Hector Bellerin who, if there were any people doubting whether selling him was a bad idea, have now turned a corner. It’s time for a change.

A servant of this club for the best part of a decade and someone who was a representative of Arsenal that fans could be proud of, simply has to leave. He wants to, too.

Arteta convinced him after the FA Cup title that he should stick around, presumably as he needed the experience in the squad for another campaign and that there were no viable replacements available.

Of course he will want to leave. A new challenge, culture and division will await him, so too will regular playing time which he is not being granted this term. Nobody can begrudge Arteta for that. He has not been anywhere near good enough.

An attacking full-back is being eyed to mimic the role Kieran Tierney plays on the opposing flank, although someone who can tuck into midfield to provide balance when the Scot overlaps would also be ideal. Buyers from Italy and Spain, as well as PSG, will hopefully see Bellerin’s price tag raised to its maximum. Arsenal desperately need it.

Bellerin will leave with everyone’s best wishes. No doubt.

Willian

Before there are any street parties scheduled in and bottles of champagne being put on ice, a player wanting to leave is not the same as feasibly moving them on.

There is uncertainty on how much Willian is paid weekly with certain add-ons and bonuses included, but it’s thought to be in the region of £200k-per-week.

Even by their own catastrophic standards, Arsenal’s recruitment team deserve extra credit for pulling off one of the worst transfers in the club’s history. Stupendous work.

This overpaid, hopeless, disinterested and generally appalling footballer will leave without tears of sadness but tears of joy. A total unmitigated disaster on every front. How someone can go from their best season of goal involvement in seven years at Chelsea to what Arsenal fans have been dished up this season is astonishing.

If someone was truly motivated to succeed they’d have done significantly better with the minutes they’d had. He was happy to retire at Arsenal on large wages and the club let him.

Now wanting to leave as well – a ‘get out while you can’ mantra – given the toxicity around the club and likely partly in due to some of the horrid abuse he’s personally received on social media, which is clearly totally unacceptable, we can only hope MLS come knocking.

Granit Xhaka

This is a tough one. Many supporters will be overjoyed to see the back of Granit Xhaka at Arsenal. Even more so if the previous six months were removed from the history books.

But Arsenal have a serious issue on their hands in terms of leadership, and contracts. Looking around the squad, take out all of the above, as well as Alexandre Lacazette, and you’re left rudderless. Who is going to speak up in the dressing room when the going gets tough? Who will others listen to for advice or guidance on the training ground?

The extensive amount of work at hand is no more evident than in midfield. If the current loanees are sold or don’t return then there is only Xhaka, Partey and Elneny left. The latter is also up for sale.

Take Xhaka out and there is Partey. Just Partey. What about when AFCON comes around?

With only 11 players under contract beyond the 2022/23 season and four of them being central defenders, Arsenal need contracts handed out to the right people. Xhaka has to be offered a new one simply down to the multitude of issues not needing to have a(nother) central midfielder added to them.

Ignoring form and quality, simply from a stability point of view, Xhaka’s leadership and job title of ‘midfielder’ make him someone who needs to stay.

However, if he does want out, then hands are tied. Arsenal fans already know what Xhaka can be like, so throw in the Swiss being at a club he has no interest in and those ties must be cut. This is no time for passengers of any kind.

Can Arsenal upgrade on Xhaka? Of course they can. Not immediately in terms of role within the squad and understanding of the demands, but certainly in quality.

It’s shows the state of Arsenal where all five players mentioned were actively kept by the current regime in the past 12 months: Willian signed, Luiz re-signed, Leno chosen, Xhaka begged to stay, Bellerin encouraged to stay. Bids rejected everywhere.