Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing three specific players this summer so let’s take a look at who they are.
Budget
Although Arsenal reportedly only have a small budget this summer they are hoping to boost their transfer kitty by unloading a number of players.
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.
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 the club took up the option in his contract for another year. 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.
Other players likely to face the chop this summer include Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny who are on a combined £145kpw.
According to David Ornstein, Emery is looking to bring in experienced players and has three main targets for the summer that Sport Bild have identified.
Let’s take a look at the trio…
Ivan Perisic
One of the biggest rumours over the January transfer window, Arsenal were said to be interested in signing Perisic from Inter Milan only for Inter Milan to accuse Arsenal of ‘conning’ the player.
Speaking to the media after Inter’s cup exit to Lazio, their second consecutive defeat in two games without Perisic, Spalletti tried to shift the blame for the whole situation away from the player, who asked for a transfer, and onto Arsenal.
“As for Perisic, there was this story on the market, but he is a professional, understands his role and yesterday it was already a very different mood,” Spalletti said (via Goal).
“These things happen in the transfer window, the player received an impressive proposal and was tempted.”However, he then realised it was not a true offer, that he’d been conned, and took a step back. Now he’ll resume training and as soon as his mind is back fully on Inter, we’ll let him play.”
This is a completely different take on events than the one being reported by every other source.
Inter’s own director revealed Perisic had submitted a transfer request. Then, reliable sources like the BBC‘s David Ornstein confirmed the move only fell through over a disagreement between Arsenal and Inter over the nature of the deal.
Arsenal wanted a loan with an option to buy, whereas Inter would only accept a permanent deal or a loan with an obligation to buy. In the end, the two clubs couldn’t reach a compromise, but there’s no suggestion it had anything to do with Perisic realising he’d been conned and stepping back.
You can understand why Spalletti is fabricating his own storyline though. The Inter fans are much more likely to warm to Perisic again if they think it was the player’s decision not to leave after coming to his senses. Considering the Serie A club’s form without the winger, they need him back in the team as soon as possible.
Perisic made sense when it was a loan deal but it’s hard to understand the club spending serious money on him in a permanent deal.
Christopher Nkunku
Another Arsenal were linked with over the January window, a move reportedly fell through because of Sven Mislintat.
David Ornstein suggested that PSG head coach Thomas Tuchel may have ended up halting talks for the 21-year-old over disagreements with Arsenal’s Sven Mislintat. The two previously clashed during their time at Borussia Dortmund, with Tuchel banning Mislintat from training at one stage.
Ornstein said (via Express): “The latest understanding is that Thomas Tuchel has vetoed it. He doesn’t want it to happen, he wants Nkunku to be available to him to play, he’s got a lot on the line.
“There is also some politics at play of course. There was a tempestuous end to the relationship between Tuchel and Mislintat [at Borussia Dortmund].”
Other outlets like FotbollTransfers have seemingly taken the quotes and run with them, claiming the disagreement was the sole cause of the breakdown in talks. Mislintat left Arsenal on February 8th, so it would be a real shame if that was a key reason the move didn’t go through. There are other explanations though.
We know from Ornstein‘s previous reports on the deal that PSG wanted to bring in cover before they let Nkunku leave. The French club were linked with moves for the likes of Everton’s Idrissa Gueye and DC United’s Luciano Acosta, but neither deal ended up going through. That’s certainly an alternative explanation for why they held onto Nkunku.
There’s no reason Arsenal can’t revive the deal in the summer though.
If Mislintat really was the problem, he’s gone. Either way, The Gunners will see their negotiating position strengthened by Nkunku continuing to run his contract down.
By the end of this season, the versatile midfielder will have just a year left on his deal.
Adrien Rabiot
A player long-linked with Arsenal, Rabiot is finally available for free this summer and having worked with Unai Emery at PSG, knows what he would be getting were he to shift to London.
The Mirror claimed in an exclusive that Arsenal are ‘keeping tabs’ on Rabiot, who is set to leave Paris on a free transfer when his contract comes to an end this summer. They add that Unai Emery is a ‘big fan’ of the 23-year-old, and he’d like a reunion with his former player in North London.
Rabiot is currently being excluded by PSG, ever since he informed them of his decision not to sign a new contract.
The club have had mixed results without him, with highs like a 9-0 win over Guingamp and lows like a cup exit to the same team, as well as their Ligue 1 unbeaten run coming to an end last weekend. It doesn’t look like there’s much chance of the two parties making up and moving on together though.
Arsenal aren’t the only club in for the midfielder, with Barcelona heavily linked with a transfer. Their interest has reportedly cooled a bit after signing Frenkie de Jong from Ajax, but Tottenham and Liverpool would also provide competition in England.
Emery thinks his relationship with the player could help though.
Rabiot is an excellent all-round midfielder, with a strong physical presence, good passing, the ability to win the ball in the air and a good number of goal contributions for his position.
We’ll see who ends up picking him up, but if Arsenal want to maximise their chances they should probably get back into the Champions League first.