Arsenal fans in the Football Transfer Tavern are slowly starting to grow to enjoy transfer windows a little bit more than they used to with the Gunners set to embark another window but this time without the prospect of losing one of their top players.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has reiterated time and again that Arsenal had to part with the likes of Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie in order to balance the books following their relocation to Emirates Stadium but with the debt now paid off, the club can be self sufficient and should be looking to compete for the very best names in the game, transfer wise.
The evidence suggests Arsenal are indeed progressing having signed truly world class names such as Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in more recent times and our resident Gunners fans are hoping this trend continues this summer.
What few people have mentioned thus far however are the names who will be exiting the FA Cup winners however.
In every transfer window, a series of outgoings take place and Arsenal will be no different with a large squad needing to be trimmed before fresh new additions can be brought into the fold.
So in order to get the conversation started, a few Gunners by the bar have put their heads together and come up with five Gunners stars that Arsene Wenger simply must dispose of this summer.
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Click on The FA Cup winners below to reveal the 5 players the Gunners must sell this summer.
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Lukas Podolski
Having just completed a less than impressive half-season long move at Inter Milan, Lukas Podolski’s career has stalled dramatically.
All anybody seems to mention about the forward nowadays is the fact that he has won over 100 caps for Germany so can’t be that bad a squad addition?
Well the fact of the matter is that Podolski is one of those players who doesn’t really do rotation. We saw in the earlier part of the campaign that if the German international isn’t starting, his attitude on the pitch is questionable, despite his loyalty to the fans and upbeat nature off it.
To score Podolski’s Arsenal career out of 10 so far, the former FC Koln man would probably get a 5.5 – 6 as we haven’t really seen him recreate his form in the Bundesliga in the Premier League due to his utility status.
Possessing a rocket of a left foot, there is no doubting that when Podolski strikes a ball, the opposition know about it but it seems time for the Gunners to let him go this summer and perhaps a transfer reunion with FC Koln – where he’d be the main man once more – wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Wojciech Szczesny
Our landlord is sure that a large number of our Arsenal regulars are under some kind of Paul Daniels-style hypnosis at the moment because all they seem to be repeating on a seemingly daily basis is the name ‘Petr Cech’.
We are yet to get a Gooner in the tavern who isn’t endorsing a summer transfer for Chelsea’s substitute goalkeeper and if the Gunners do manage to pull a deal off for the Czech Republic international, you feel Wojciech Szczesny’s career could be over.
The fact of the matter is that Arsenal need to get closer to Chelsea and boasting a goalkeeper with real presence would surely save them some of the points that were lost at the likes of Swansea City and Stoke City in 2014/15.
The general feeling is that Szczesny could yet become a world class stopper with the Pole still aged 25 – a youngster in goalkeeping terms – but the Gunners can’t stand still and wait for him to develop.
When you consider Thibaut Courtois is 23 and is considered to be among the best goalkeepers in the world, Arsenal need to improve in this position and with David Ospina as a number two option behind Petr Cech, Arsene Wenger’s options would improve dramatically.
A loan move for Szczesny shouldn’t be ruled out but like with the example of Lukasz Fabianski at Swansea City, he could prosper away from Emirates Stadium via a permanent move where he’d be the undoubted number one.
Yaya Sanogo
He made even less of an impact on loan at Crystal Palace than he did in an Arsenal shirt so you can forgive Gooners for entirely forgetting about their French Under-21 international striker altogether.
Yaya Sanogo is still on the books at Arsenal but according to many, he just isn’t going to cut it at Emirates Stadium with Arsene Wenger needing to cut his losses immediately.
Wenger has shown great faith in Sanogo having started him in huge games such as Bayern Munich in the Champions League and the FA Cup semi-final to Wigan Athletic in 2013/14.
That said, Sanogo really hasn’t impressed and was always a great frustrater with a bad touch and a lack of confidence in front of goal.
A winter switch to Crystal Palace seemed like a sensible move for the Frenchman but with Glen Murray’s renaissance at Selhurst Park, Sanogo played less than Wenger would’ve liked with Sanogo having only struck once – against Southampton in the FA Cup.
If Arsenal want to truly catch the likes of Chelsea, you feel they can no longer be relying on the likes of Sanogo to fill the void if Olivier Giroud or Danny Welbeck are injured and unavailable.
Mathieu Flamini
Having played over 150 times for the Gunners in the Premier League in two spells, I suppose Mathieu Flamini can be described as something of an Arsenal stalwart at the age of 31.
When Arsene Wenger moved to re-sign the Frenchman back in 2013, everybody was in agreement that it was a cheap move that made total sense with Flamini originally training with the Gunners to maintain his fitness following the end of his stay at AC Milan.
Fast forward to 2015 and both Flamini and the injured Mikel Arteta have been trumped by the exploits of loan returnee Francis Coquelin who has flourished in the defensive midfield role, adding more dynamism and a youthful exuberance to the position.
To cut a long story short, Arsenal have moved on from having to paper over squad deficiencies with the likes of Flamini on a free transfer and with Coquelin having not looked back since returning from Charlton Athletic, to add a Morgan Schneiderlin or Arturo Vidal with Arteta and Coquelin in direct competition, Flamini’s second spell would surely come to an end?
Joel Campbell
Another Arsenal forward who will return to Emirates Stadium this summer with his career in limbo is Costa Rican international striker Joel Campbell.
Having moved on loan to Spanish football with Villarreal back in January as part of the deal that brought Gabriel Paulista to North London, Campbell is very much a reserve in the overall Arsenal picture.
Having received some chances in the early part of 2014/15, notably the FA Cup third round fixture against Hull City in which he started, you just feel Campbell didn’t really do himself justice on the main stage under the watchful eye of Wenger.
At one stage you felt Campbell was never going to actually pull on an Arsenal shirt during a competitive fixture after work permit complications and subsequent loan moves away but after impressing at the World Cup, the forward forged a part of Wenger’s squads in early 2014/15.
Nevertheless, with Arsenal looking to sign a top class forward this summer, this would push Campbell even further down the pecking order.
The thing with Campbell is that he is a talented forward who is still young so no matter the transfer target this summer, he could yet again prove a good bargaining chip to land the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton etc.
