Arsenal will listen to offers for Rob Holding, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi this summer, according to David Ornstein.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the FA Cup Fifth Round match between Portsmouth FC and Arsenal FC at Fratton Park on March 02, 2020 in Portsmouth, England.
PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND: Sokratis Papastathopoulos celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal on March 02, 2020. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Speaking to The Athletic’s The Ornstein and Chapman Podcast, David Ornstein named the three defenders Arsenal plan to listen to offers for this summer.

With the likes of William Saliba and Konstantinos Mavropanos returning from loan, as well as youth loan centre-back Daniel Ballard, plus Pablo Mari likely to join, Arsenal are adding to an already long list of centre-backs this summer.

As a result, it’s no surprise they’re trying to move a few of them on.

“Arsenal have a vast number of central defenders and presumably they’ll need to get rid of some of them this summer,” Ornstein said. “We know that some of them, including Rob Holding, Sokratis and maybe Shkodran Mustafi as well, Arsenal will listen to offers for.

“But it’s going to be an incredibly difficult and unpredictable market and we don’t know whether they will be able to do what they want to do.”

It’s certainly not the best summer to have a lot of players up for sale. Potential buyers may not be able to afford Arsenal’s asking price even if they want to pay it.

The Gunners may be willing to cut the price of a sale just to get the wages off the books though. There’s no way Sokratis, Holding, Mustafi, Chambers, Mari, Luiz, Saliba, Mavropanos, Ballard, Medley and Olowu can all make enough appearances to justify their wages.

That’s the list of centre-backs with Arsenal contracts who have made senior appearances for the Gunners or others. Not to mention someone like Harry Clarke who is doing well for the u23s. They really do need to sell.