Arsenal will reportedly only have £45m to spend this summer however they will be able to increase that amount with player sales.

The Daily Mail’s main Arsenal correspondent Sami Mokbel reports that the club will only make £45m available for Unai Emery this summer despite the Spaniard wanting to purchase three players.

The problem? The state of Arsenal.

After years of austerity and being sensible with their cash, the last few seasons under Arsene Wenger saw the club lose its mind in terms of wages and transfer fees. It is, in particular, the £350kpw wage that is being paid to Mesut Ozil that is causing the most problems.

This summer Arsenal should offload Stephan Lichtsteiner, Carl Jenkinson, Petr Cech, Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey and possibly even Nacho Monreal although there have been reports he could get a new contract. While the club won’t get any money for any of those six players as they are all out of contract, it will free up over £400kpw from the wage bill.

• Aaron Ramsey £110kpw
• Petr Cech £100kpw
• Stephan Lichtsteiner £90kpw
• Danny Welbeck £70kpw
• Nacho Monreal £65kpw
• Carl Jenkinson £45kpw

Mokbel writes that Ozil’s wages are a ‘crippling burden on the club’s finances, particularly given that he is now on the periphery of Emery’s team’ but that doesn’t really make any sense. Either his wages are crippling or they aren’t. Whether he is playing or not shouldn’t really impact that.

That being said, there is absolutely no sense in paying a player £350kpw that you won’t even use. Like that gym membership we all buy in January and then forget about until we wonder why we have no money in the bank.

Players likely to face the chop this summer include Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny who are on a combined £145kpw.