Arsenal nearing 3 player sales worth £26m

Arsenal have been in the headlines plenty since the transfer window opened but so far are yet to finalise any sales or purchases as Mikel Arteta looks to reshape his squad for the upcoming season. However, three players are edging near the exit door worth a combined £26m.

All the talk of new arrivals has taken some of the focus away from what is an equally important aspect of the summer: sales.

Having managed to rustle some money together, a large portion of which is believed to be coming as part of a do-as-you-please bank loan from Barclays, there will still need to be wholesale departures to supplement arrivals.

One player who seemed destined to depart for new pastures before he even pulled on his Switzerland shirt was Granit Xhaka, who is in Roma’s sights with discussions over a five-year deal going off without a hitch. Personal terms were agreed and all three parties were preparing a smooth transition.

Arsenal nearing 3 player sales worth £26m as Mikel Arteta shapes squad for summer transfer window overhaul

It hasn’t gone quite as fluidly as anticipated with disagreements over the fee in question. Roma initially came in with a derisory offer under £13m, with Arsenal holding out for over £20m. Talks have remained stable with a conclusion inevitable, but Roma are still playing hardball over their own valuation and the latest from Il Tempo (via Sport Witness) states the Italian side are refusing to budge on their €15m offer.

That’s frankly a pathetic bid for a player of Xhaka’s quality and Premier League and international experience, even if he is now 28 years old and has two years left on his deal. Given Jose Mourinho’s side are handing him a five-year deal it’s clear his age is somewhat irrelevant.

Neither side have found an amicable solution yet as Arsenal now hold out for €18m. Nonetheless, it’s a move that will materialise eventually, likely to be concluded when Switzerland’s European Championship venture comes to an end.

Looking to recoup around £60m in player sales this window, £15.5m is what the Gunners are hoping for with Xhaka (below pre-market expectations) thus the likes of Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and potentially Joe Willock and Alexandre Lacazette will have to help boost that figure up.

There are others who are edging closer to the exit door however, with talks picking up pace over recent days.

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Konstantinos Mavropanos Set for £7m Arsenal Exit

With two central defenders away on loan during the 2020/21 campaign, there was unlikely to ever be enough room for both to come back to London Colney and fight for a place in the squad, let alone the starting lineup, unless one was sold.

A decision has been made for William Saliba to return and be assessed during pre-season, but as for Konstantinos Mavropanos, football.london report he is due to leave the club this summer with Arteta not convinced he can offer enough to his side to stay.

Now ‘on the verge’ of re-joining Stuttgart on a permanent deal for £7m, Arsenal’s decision to hand the Greek defender a new contract in July 2020 before sending him out on loan to the Bundesliga for 12 months has paid dividends.

Signed for £1.8m from PAS Giannina in 2018, Mavropanos will become the first player since Olivier Giroud in 2012 to be bought and then sold for a profit.

However, £7m feels like an awfully low figure for a player who has just come off the back of a superb campaign in Germany and is still only 23 years old.

Winning 75.4% of his aerial duels, sitting in the 98th percentile for interceptions, completed dribbles, passes blocked, tackles in the defensive third and so on and so forth, the point is that he was brilliant for Stuttgart and this deal feels like one where it’s satisfying the players’ preference over the club’s.

Mavropanos hasn’t hid his desire to stay at the club but with interest elsewhere he could surely have garnered a bigger fee. But, in any case, there is no room for him at Arsenal with the Ben White deal hotting up and at least it’s a profit for a change.

The other departure closing in has less emotional attachment to it.

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Lazio Keen on £3.5m Sead Kolasinac Deal From Arsenal

Most had forgotten that Sead Kolasinac was still an Arsenal player. His loan to Schalke 04 for the second half of last season felt like the end of the road only for him to pop out from behind the curtain and surprise us all with his unfortunate presence.

There is no place for Kolasinac in this team and there hasn’t been for quite some time. His January departure, while risky in the sense of leaving Arsenal with one senior left-back, was also a necessary move as it took another step towards pushing out the supposed ‘disrupting influences’ from within the group.

His return to London Colney with one year left on his deal had contract termination written all over it, thus if a move can be sanctioned this summer for any fee it has to be seen as a bonus. As it is, £3.5m would actually be a very welcome and decent cash injection for the player he is.

Italian journalist Daniele Longo has been backed up by Chris Wheatley in revealing that Lazio are stepping up their interest in the Bosnian and have set their price at €4m (£3.5m). Napoli are also keen on bringing the 27-year-old through the doors.

Turkish sides have also weighed in as per reports from the country, although as ever with those they need concrete backing to be properly considered.

Nonetheless, £3.5m would be pretty darn good. Sure, that fee is what he earns in 35 weeks but heck, as far as deadwood goes, that would be a tidy amount.

On the positive note, interest from a few clubs is invaluable. As long as sides feels they have to act now or risk losing him, Arsenal will get a fee and avoid another contract being ripped up. Positive news.