Arsenal midfielders: Who stays and who is sold?

Sell 4 – Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles

In an ideal world, all four would already be off Arsenal’s books. However, such is the club’s inability to sell, they remain with Xhaka (back being stand-in captain) and Mohamed Elneny (on the bench) who were present in the Gunners opening day loss to Brentford.

Xhaka had already booked his Italian language lessons by the time the deal fell through and now he’s contractually staying in north London for another year at least for reasons only the club knows.

Lucas Torreira has made his feelings known with his desire to move clubs and Arsenal still can’t move him. Why he has not at least got a run with Arteta is a mystery but it is clear he is on the way out. Only at this institution can a perfectly serviceable £26m midfielder become unsellable and unwanted in such a short space of time.

Whether the club wants too much money or simply because there are no suitors, it is a huge concern that these fringe players are still at the club. They need to be moved on and quickly.

Then there is the curious case of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Sent out on loan last season to West Brom as he wanted midfield minutes, Arteta saw him only as a fill-in defender. He can consider himself hard done by not to have gotten more of a chance, but the fact is when he’s had his opportunities, Maitland-Niles has not grasped them with both hands.

After a summer in which Arteta said the club had to be “ruthless” with it’s transfer dealings, very little has been done and the only ruthless thing we have seen is what Brentford did to Arsenal on Friday night.