Arsenal wanted to sell more than eight players this summer to free up space on the wage bill, in addition to clearing their bloated first-team.

Trying to explain what happened during Arsenal’s transfer window is no easy task, yet the ever-reliable David Ornstein did his best.

“Clubs and agents were made aware that offers would be entertained for the likes of Wojcicech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson, Calum Chambers, Kieran Gibbs, Mohamed Elneny, Jack Wilshere, Chuba Akpom, Olivier Giroud and others,” he said on Twitter.

The plan by Arsenal was to offload a high number of first-team players in order to free up space on the wage bill and not fall afoul of the Premier League’s Short Term Cost Control regulations.

In addition to the eight players mentioned, the sales of Mathieu Debuchy and Lucas Perez would have enabled Arsenal to extend the contracts of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, as well as make a major signing such as Thomas Lemar from Monaco.

Of those players, only Szczesny and Gibbs were sold, while Jenkinson went on loan. Wenger apparently changed his mind on Chambers, while Wilshere, Elneny and Giroud opted to stay.

In the end, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was sold to Liverpool, Alexis was almost sold while Ozil has yet to extend his contract. Lemar didn’t arrive either. It’s safe to say that the summer transfer window did not go according to plan whatsoever.