Arsenal are preparing to build on the success of last season by attempting to retain the Premier League trophy.
This will require a number of quality incomings and regrettably, a number of outgoings.
It’s all part of the inevitable process moving forward.
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Of course fans have their own ideas on both but in terms of outgoings two high profile names have been drawn in to the exit spotlight.
Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli have suffered a poor 2025/26 season for different reasons.
Odegaard suffered one injury after another last term. The playmaker that we couldn’t see ourselves functioning without was missing for a total 137 days with 7 injuries making him absent for 30 matches.
Yet we still won the league as Arteta shuffled the pack to drag the club over the line for the first time in 22 years and now having achieved that incredible feat, big decisions on players like Odegaard and Martinelli need to be made.
Yes, he’s having a decent World Cup with Norway showing glimpses of the form that made him indisputable for Arsenal but can he replicate that at club level and be as influential as he was three or so seasons ago.
The fact that he seems to have played more consistently at international level than for his club tends to irk for some reason.
Injuries have included shoulder , muscle and a recurring knee injury which restricted the Arsenal skippers appearances but perhaps last season absences allows us the chance to evaluate his worth.
I’m a big Odegaard fan as the shirts in my drawer will testify but Arsenal now require a gargantuan effort to repeat their success of last season and they need to have players that can deliver consistently.
The Premier League title was eventually determined by the previous summers transfer activity which added depth and quality in vital areas.
Like it or not we had to find a way to win and maintain momentum by rotating players and finding alternatives for the likes of Havertz, Saka and Odegaard.
Odegaard was always an automatic choice in the midfield for his brilliant vision, ability to fashion space and connect the dots from the midfield to the attack but with possible new additions this might not be the case.
He has to prove himself this term by featuring regularly and providing those moments of quality in key games, as he did in seasons past.
If not then next summer the club has to find an alternative in his position as well as a new Captain.
Football is a cut throat business and in the process of evaluation we have to consider form, age and saleability.
The Norway international will be 28 at the end of the year which still makes him attractive in the transfer market and one would expect that based on success or not, he may feel he has one big move left in his career.
As for Martinelli, the Brazilian winger showed so much promise on his initial transfer.A heady combination of blistering pace, desire and attacking intent which drew the favourable and unforgettable comment fromJurgen Klopp in 2019 when he described Martinelli“talent of the century”
Since then Martinelli has struggled to secure the left flank and has been seen to almost regress.
Last season he played no more than a cameo role in a side where he was reduced to the role of substitute or a squad player.
Neither he or Trossard could claim the position and as a result the side suffered an imbalance.
It was a strange season with Martinelli performing to a higher standard in the Champions League than the Premier League.
In 30 appearances in the prem he scored 1 goal and provided just 6 assists in 1,088 minutes.
Whereas in the Champions League he racked up 6 goals and 2 assists in 14 appearances and 705 minutes on the field of play.
In his defence, he just doesn’t get the same service as Saka and his movement at times is overlooked.
It’s no surprise to fans that 43% of attacks go down the right as opposed to 30% on the left. Personally I’d say it was higher in favour of the right flank.
Despite all this and even if we find the answer to the left sided problem by buying another player, Martinelli has, in my opinion, one season to show the player that Jurgen Klopp praised so highly.
Finally when it came to selling Martinelli or Trossard I personally chose the Belgian purely based on age.
The club obviously felt the same and rather reluctantly eased him through the exit door much to the disappointment of the fan base.
In truth it would be hard to argue that Trossard wasn’t more productive in front of goal and that Arsenal wouldn’t have won the title without his contributions
You don’t have to be a genius to recognise his ability to finish or that he claimed vital goals in key matches but there’s still time for the Brazilian who is only 25.
However, like Odegaard, he is now officially on the clock.
When you reach the top of the premier league you then have to work out how to stay there even if the decisions are hard.
Arteta knows this and will probably persevere for one more season unless a tempting offer is forthcoming.