Arsenal could say goodbye to a number of players this summer as Edu attempts to move on some of the club’s unwanted stars.
While the Gunners enjoyed a sensational 2023/24 campaign, only missing out on the Premier League title by two points, Mikel Arteta failed to deliver a trophy and all connected with the north London club will want that to change next season. One of the ways to make that happen is by being active in the transfer market.
With the summer window opening on Friday, Edu can begin getting to work and reshaping Arteta’s squad. While players are expected to arrive in the coming months, several stars are also expected to leave.
There are at least five other players who could also leave Emirates Stadium this summer. Aaron Ramsdale (£21million) could leave in search of extra minutes after losing his spot as the club’s number one to David Raya, Thomas Partey (£15.3million) has just one more year on his contract and Emile Smith Rowe (£18.7million) has been starved of action for two years and is likely to have plenty of admirers.
Eddie Nketiah (£25.5million) and Reiss Nelson (£12.7million) are two other talents who may look to depart in search of extra game time. That means, should Edu sell all eight aforementioned players this summer, Arsenal could be looking at a transfer windfall of around £129million.
With Arsenal travelling to America for their pre-season tour in July, Arteta has hinted that he wants the club to do transfer business early on in the window. With Euro 2024 and Copa America taking place this month, however, that may be trickier than usual.
“That’s the ideal scenario,” Arteta said when asked if Arsenal were hopeful of getting their business done at the start of the window. “Every club wants that, we want that as coaches and for the players especially.
“Then for the team and for the environment. When you do that something clicks there and it’s really important because it starts to give you momentum.”
Arteta will want Arsenal to sell the players deemed surplus to requirements before pre-season starts so he has a clear picture of who will be part of the squad for the 2024/25 campaign. Whether Edu is successful in doing this or not remains to be seen.
