Mikel Arteta and Arsenal ready for a clearance sale of all deadwood
Arsenal’s January transfer window looks set to be as busy as their previous one with many players on the exit list.
The Gunners are looking to make space for players Mikel Arteta needs to get through the season. A bad run of games in the first half of the Premier League campaign has forced Arsenal to make many moves come January.
It is been a tough first full campaign in charge of the North London club for the Spaniard. Following a convincing start to life on opening day against Fulham, everything just started to fall apart as they find themselves way behind in the chase for a Champions League spot.
After a string of seven games without a win, they finally got things back on track. They were languishing in the bottom half of the table for a large part of the campaign, struggling to get out of 15th place. Thanks to a turnaround in form just before the end of the year, they find themselves two places up in 13th.
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Now to help not slip back into the slump the deadwood at the club must be shipped out so space could be made for players Arteta needs to continue his progress.
A number of players have been transfer listed with Sead Kolasinac the first player reportedly on his way out. The out-of-favour defender will join Bundesliga side, FC Schalke, on a loan deal till the end of the season.
Joining him on the list is the omitted Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who have all struggled for game time. Getting these outfielders off the books at the Emirates needs to happen before they can bring in any new names, as per the manager.
Added late to this list is said to be Granit Xhaka for his inexcusable red card offence against Burnley, a game they lost after going a man down.
"Mikel Arteta has made trimming Arsenal’s squad his priority for the January transfer window, admitting the club “cannot sustain” the number of players currently on their books.A number of big names, such as Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, have subsequently struggled for minutes this term or been frozen out."
According to head Gunner, plans fell apart and business never progressed as the club would have like to during the summer window.
Arteta said on his large Arsenal squad:
"We have a large squad. We knew that and a lot of things we wanted to do in the summer we couldn’t accomplish for different reasons.There are some players that are going to go on loan, they are going to leave, and that’s the priority at the moment. We cannot sustain the numbers that we have in terms of substitutions.We are looking to do that and then we will see if we have the right opportunities in the positions that we need some more help. We are working with the club to find that. (Via: as.com)"
The club has been largely linked with a loan move for Real Madrid’s Isco and Sevilla’s Joan Jordán on a permanent deal said to be around £32m.
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Work is necessary for them after alienating their most creative player to a spectators role. In the final days of the summer transfer window, they just missed out on who was supposed to be Ozil’s replacement Houssem Aouar from Olympique Lyon.