As we’ve now hit January, that means there are a number of players in the Arsenal squad who can talk to other clubs as their contracts expire in the summer.

Here is a complete run down of those players and what we expect to happen with them:

Per Mertesacker

The Arsenal captain is out of contract in the summer and could start talking to other clubs this month without ever having played a game as official Arsenal captain. Per has spoken about his future and he’s hopeful of getting an extension but Arsenal are surely waiting to see how his knee injury affects him and if he is able to recover properly from it.

He’s back in training and barring any unforeseen setbacks I expect him to get a one-year extension but spend most of next season captaining from the bench.

Santi Cazorla

It’s crazy to think that Santi Cazorla could waltz out of Arsenal for free in the summer but that’s where we are. The fact that he has struggled for some time with an Achilles problem has not helped his cause and, like Mertesacker, you have to think the club are waiting to see if he can recover.

If he can, I would expect a two-year deal to come his way, but don’t expect this to be resolved any time soon. Do expect a lot of transfer links with clubs all around Europe.

Yaya Sanogo

Remember him? Yaya Sanogo was a free punt taken by Arsene Wenger that has not worked out in the slightest. Arriving with a reputation for being injury prone he has spent the majority of his time as an Arsenal player either injured or on loan, where he usually got injured.

It’s not even clear where he is at the minute, nor what’s wrong with him. He is alive, or, at least, he was a few months ago when he posted on one of his social media accounts.

His contract is up in the summer and I cannot, for the life of me, see how Wenger could possibly justify giving him a new contract.

Jon Toral

Jon arrived at the club at the same time as Hector Bellerin and big things were expected of him, perhaps moreso than Hector. Genetic problems in both his knees caused a number of frutsrating setbacks as he underwent operations to rectify the problem.

The problems are now behind him, but it doesn’t seem like he will be fulfilling his early potential. On loan with Granada this season, he has played just 267 minutes in the league.

I’d like to see Arsenal give him a little more time, but I’m not sure that will happen.

There could also be some other youngsters likely to move on at the end of their contracts this summer. We are looking into these further.