Arsenal's left-back pecking order becoming clear

Mikel Arteta has already decided on the futures of several players.

It is a defining summer for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta with the shopping list clear to make his squad a proper title contender. But also, that means keeping ahold of players you want, and shipping off the ones you don't.

There is a thought that if the Gunners are to get several deals over the line, that players will have to be shipped out to create funds, and it appears that Arteta has already made that decision on a host of players.

Riccardo Calafiori was reportedly one player who might have been on the outer, which we simple don't understand given he only came to the club last summer.

But it is the silly season, after all.

The Mirror's John Cross has squashed any Calafiori move, writing that Arsenal has "no intention" of letting the Italian left-back go, and to that, we say, well duh.

But there appears to be movement on another player once regarded as irreplaceable not too long ago.

Arteta makes call on once-valued squad member

With Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and even Myles Lewis-Skelly all capable of playing left-back, there is one player who is the odd one out - Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The Ukrainian is thought to be on the outer this summer and his proposed sale would generate some nice funds for Arsenal to go shopping with.

And Cross writes that the Gunners "will sanction" a move this summer.

So there's that.

Things are moving along for the Gunners as the preseason comes into focus and the need to get deals done is of the utmost importance.

Calafiori is staying put, but Zinchenko is out, and Cross also reports that Italian giants AC Milan are the ones who are showing interest in the left-back.

Exactly what sort of fee the Gunners would want is unknown, but what is known is Oleksandr's time in north London appears to be at an end.

And in doing so, the left back pecking order, which most of us knew anyway, appears to be clearing up as the Gunners look to move off some of the fringe players to further bolster the squad ahead of a huge Premier League season.

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