Arsenal are likely to turn down any loan approaches for first-team players in the January transfer window, but a number of youth players are expected to leave.
James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that Arsenal are likely to resist loan approaches for their first-team players in the January window. Mikel Arteta is already reluctant to let anyone go, and he’d be even more hesitant if the Gunners aren’t even getting a transfer fee.
That would seemingly rule out the possibility of transfers for the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, given Arsenal are also reluctant to sell the duo.
There’s been understandable speculation around the two players as a result of their more limited minutes in 2025/26 compared to the previous campaign. But it seems they’re currently both set to stay until at least the end of the season.
The situation is likely to be different for Arsenal’s academy players, with McNicholas writing that a number of academy players are expected to leave.
Arsenal have already loaned out Lucas Nygaard, Maldini Kacurri, Cam’ron Ismail, Harrison Dudziak, Ismeal Kabia, and Daniel Oyetunde this season, in addition to first-team players Fabio Vieira, Jakub Kiwior, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Reiss Nelson.
Interestingly, Arsenal have shown an increasing preference for short-term youth loans to non-league clubs. That was the case for Kacurri, Oyetunde, Ismail, and Dudziak, none of whom signed season-long deals and all of whom joined non-league sides.
The upside of such deals is that it should make it more likely the player will get minutes, and if things don’t go well, the player will make a speedy return to Arsenal.
The downside is that it means Arsenal have to sort out each player’s future again not long after letting them leave, with Oyetunde and Ismail already having returned to the club and the initial terms of Dudziak and Kacurri’s deals to end in January.
So the club definitely have a lot of work to do in the winter window.