Who can Arsenal allow to go to
balance the books?
Arsenal in preseason training. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
**Arsenal**have been active in the transfer window. Three players have come through the door, and three more might be joining the group in the next few days. But clubs cannot conduct business with a bottomless pot of money: here are five players who could be going out to help balance the books.
Some squad members are valued most when one loses them. Never an outstanding figure, there is one defender whose future at **Arsenal**is a delicate balancing act between his wants and the club's needs.
Jakub Kiwior put pen to paper for a fee of £20 million as he arrived at **Arsenal**in January 2023 from Spezia. Yet, it was not until early May that he made his **Premier League**debut in a 3-1 victory over Chelsea as a right central defender. It was a situation that foretold his story in North London.
The defender can plug and play in gaps across the back four. When **William Saliba**suffered a back injury in the first title challenging campaign, he filled in on the right of Gabriel Magalhaes in the middle of the back four. Many minutes came the next year as a more conservative left back, and most recently, he covered for the big Brazilian, who has been out of action because of a hamstring injury.
Despite these contributions, he is not going to break into the starting eleven for good. It is the case even more so in central defence, where he is most comfortable but sits behind Gabriel and Saliba.
He is at risk of receiving even fewer minutes next season if a rumoured arrival signs on the dotted line. Christian Mosquera is a right footed defender, but the 21-year-old can play in several positions across a back four. Given that Takehiro Tomiyasu hardly saw the pitch at all last season, Kiwior is likely to be the man who will have the least to gain if the Spaniard sets foot in the capital city.
If the Pole prioritises minutes on the pitch, he would be best to take his talents elsewhere. With some excellent displays against Real Madrid to add to his commendable feats, he is not short of suitors.
For another defender on the team, the trust of the manager as a starting player has completely gone.
Oleksandr Zinchenko joined the Gunners in 2022 as a specialist inverted fullback. A midfielder by trade, he had stepped in for **Man City**over many years as a left back who moves into the middle of the park in possession. It was a role in which he stood out for his new outfit in his debut campaign, making 27 appearances in the league as **Arsenal**only lost a grip on the top spot in the table in April.
Yet, to go to the next level, he became one of the pieces who were surplus to requirements. Just as fast as he displaced Kieran Tierney, he turned into something of a liability due to his defensive flaws.
Kiwior came into his position in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign when as the team dropped only five points in the new year. Last summer signalled the beginning of the end for the Ukrainian.
Riccardo Calafiori was the most expensive signing of that transfer window, and he has mainly featured as a fullback on the same side as Zinchenko. Since then, both men, as well as Kiwior, have had to concede that academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly is the strongest option of them all.
The 28-year-old is still a serviceable player. Prone to picking up knocks and niggles, he showed he can fill in as a more standard midfielder to ease the load on the starting eleven as **Arsenal**attempted to win the Champions League. But there is no doubt that his time has run out as a mainstay.
Only one year remains on his deal, and this might be the last chance to claim money for the player.
**Arsenal**have already turned over a new leaf in midfield. Thomas Partey and **Jorginho**left the club in June as both of their contracts came to an end. Christian Norgaard is an able deputy in defensive midfield, and Martin Zubimendi is the marquee addition who will be tasked with being a conductor.
That means there are fewer disposable parts to pick from in the middle of the park. However, one man stands out as having no clear future in the team and could recoup some cash with a permanent exit.
Fabio Vieira arrived in the summer of 2022 as a wonderkid from Porto. He had been the Player of the Tournament in the U21 Euros the year before and excelled as a creative midfielder in his native country. With a move for £35 million, he set his sights on challenging Martin Odegaard for his spot.
He hit a sweet shot to wrap up a 3-0 win for the Gunners away at **Brentford**in his first league start for the club, but he has never fully gotten into his stride. His best spell came at the start of the 2023/24 campaign when it looked like he might seize the left eight position from Kai Havertz, but his form fizzled out, and he has since tried to rediscover his magic through a year-long loan spell at Porto.
There have been flashes of the player whom **Arsenal**acquired from the Primeira Liga, but it is not enough to think his fortunes will change drastically. As Ethan Nwaneri eyes up the best decision for his future, Vieira could cause more problems than answers if he stayed much longer with the squad.
The attack is also getting a shakeup in the offseason. Noni Madueke is about to sign for a fee of £52 million, having left the **Chelsea**camp before the Club World Cup final. Meanwhile, the impasse between **Arsenal**and **Sporting**in the negotiations for **Viktor Gyokeres**seems to have been resolved.
Discussions now centre on who will leave to compensate for the expenditure on these two forwards.
**Reiss Nelson**suffered a hamstring injury in December in a 3-1 triumph for **Fulham**over Brighton. A second setback saw him sit on the sidelines for the rest of the season. He and Gabriel Jesus are on the mend and might not make a move while they continue to undergo rehab from similar physical issues.
The most obvious candidate for a departure is Leandro Trossard. He was linked with an exit to Saudi Arabia a year ago, and the rumours have remained strong that his time with the Gunners may be over.
The Belgian was an offensive reinforcement in January 2023 from **Brighton**for a fee of up to £27 million. He spent his first half season as a deputy for Jesus in the false nine or as a winger, notching ten assists in about 900 league minutes. A tally of 12 Premier League strikes in the next campaign confirmed his status as a super sub in a squad that did not have many reliable offensive options.
There has been a ceiling to his contributions. In the absence of Odegaard, Jesus, and Martinelli at various points, he ended up playing in every **Premier League**match this season. However, he did not nail down a starting spot centrally or wide on the left, and he is not the level raiser that fans crave.
Aged 30, he may request terms for a renewal that Arsenal are not keen to accept. If it is possible to regain a similar fee for the forward they paid for his services, the Gunners could go ahead with a deal.
For the greater good, it can become necessary to part ways with players who were once at the heart of a project. If Arsenal are going to accept this as a reality, then one man stands out as a candidate to go.
**Gabriel Martinelli**is a darling of the fanbase. Only he and Bukayo Saka remain as integral parts of the squad from the start of the Mikel Arteta reign. Both have grown from boys into young men at the club and have saved substantial sums of money on signings in the final third with their development.
But while Saka's star has shone brighter and brighter, Martinelli has mattered much less to the team.
The 24-year-old is still a unique asset to the squad. Over the years, no one has come close to matching his top-end speed, which he blends with a willingness to work hard off the ball. He can offer relief to the defence by carrying the ball up the flank, and when he gets to chance to make instinctive runs in behind a defence, there are still signs of the talented teenage forward that arrived at Arsenal in 2019.
However, the system seems to have curbed his ability to cash in on his strengths. Arteta has been reluctant to use him in a more central role where he thrived for Unai Emery, and the left sided unit has suffered from constant changes that have not always platformed his desire to run at the goal.
At the same time, it would be disingenuous to imply that the Brazilian is at the same level as Saka. Ideally, the team would not have to rely on Martinelli to be a routine game changer. The question for Arsenal is to what extent they could get enough out of him to justify turning down a sizeable fee.