Arsenal complete fifth unwanted transfer call in one year

Having seen their game against Tottenham pushed back shortly after allowing two players to leave the club on loan, Arsenal have felt the full force of ill-informed onlookers who’ve slated their request for postponement and nigh on everything else about the club.

Since that game more players have been moved on, sparking further unfounded outrage. Many have evidently overlooked that this is a transfer window and any players leaving the club after a postponement are in no way connected to the previous game.

Should Arsenal deny players the chance to further their careers and earn minutes because of something that already took place? Oh, and Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final with Liverpool is going ahead. Who’d have thought.

Pablo Mari has bid (is bidding) farewell for the rest of the season, joining another member of the squad in departing this month, albeit this time, on a permanent basis.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1483491460473401345

Arsenal complete fifth unwanted transfer call as Sead Kolasinac has contract terminated and joins Marseille after over 4 years with Gunners

Indeed, Sead Kolasinac has bid farewell to Arsenal after exactly four years, six months and 17 days at the club. It’s been long overdue.

He’s linked up with Marseille on a two-year deal, but as a free agent after his contract at Arsenal was, of course, terminated. That now makes it five contract terminations in just one year. Only at Arsenal.

Kolasinac joins Willian, Sokratis, Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi in being paid to leave the club.

Taking a look at the recruitment across a harrowing period of time, the 2015/16 window through to around 2018 and 2019 was two giant steps back for the club. From only signing Petr Cech to bloating the squad with average talent on wages far above their worth, despite there being some certified hits among them, it was majorly misses.

Some incompetent recruitment includes spending over £100m on two strikers six months apart who were never fully suited to playing alongside each other. Awful defensive signings like Sokratis, Mustafi and Lichtsteiner also aren’t swiftly forgotten.

Rarely ever do we see clubs agree to mutually terminate player contracts; pay off their remaining salary just to have them gone. Arsenal have done it five times in a year.

When you are a club of Arsenal’s size with their wealth the risk is greater, but there is no excusing the volume of times this club has had to seek this route to absolve them of mediocrity.

But, with a view to the future, in bidding an expensive farewell to Kolasinac there are now 16 members of the squad that Mikel Arteta inherited who have either left permanently or on loan. In some inspiriting way, Kolasinac feels like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle you found trapped under the sofa.

A jigsaw that you toiled over and have no intention of ever, ever, putting back together again. The path is cleared.

Fans are well versed and invested in the strategy, while it’s also an economically more measured approach: Arsenal may have spent a large collective amount over the recent summer, but the players they’ve brought in are on, by current standards, low wages and all have resale value.

These terminations are unwanted and reflect poorly on the club. But they are the work of past regimes. Operating as they have, Arsenal have sought to wipe their hands clean, turn a page, be bold, and reset. Of course they’d rather have sold them, but you can’t flog a cracked vase in an automobile auction.

While work is still to be done, the end is nigh. The future is now.