Charlie Nicholas has said that Arsenal must follow Chelsea’s example and reduce their squad size.

Not for the want of trying, Arsenal have tried to sell a number of unwanted players this summer, but have been completely unsuccessful so far.

Carl Jenkinson, Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Joel Campbell, and Lucas Perez are all definitely for sale, while it’s believed that Calum Chambers and Jack Wilshere could also be allowed to leave if the price is right.

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas believes that Arsenal need to follow Chelsea’s example and clear out as much deadwood as possible.

“There’s so much dead wood to get rid of around the club,” Nicholas said, reports the Daily Star. “That’s what Antonio Conte has done at Chelsea, but Arsenal’s numbers are terrifying in terms of the players sat around who aren’t doing anything.”

There’s certainly something envious about Chelsea’s ability to get huge fees for their unwanted players. Few clubs are as good at negotiating grossly inflated prices for them.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are struggling to get any club to cough up £10m for the likes of Gibbs and Lucas, while the fee they received for Wojciech Szczesny was considered to be pathetically low by supporters.

The inability to shift these players on could be inhibiting Arsenal’s current business. As it stands, the Gunners need to reduce their squad and the number of non-home grown players if they want to bring in new arrivals.

Arsenal had similar difficulties back in 2011, where they struggled to offload the likes of Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh. It took a good few years and loan spells to finally get them off the wage bill.

With four weeks left in the window, the Londoners will remain optimistic that someone will come along and buy their unwanted players.