Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager says offloading players is January priority

Last updated on .From the section Arsenalcomments108

Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac during an EFL Cup tie
Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac has appeared in only one Premier League match this season

Arsenal will prioritise offloading players in the January transfer window, says manager Mikel Arteta.

Midfielder Mesut Ozil, whose deal expires in summer 2021, has been left out of the Gunners' Premier League and Europa League squads this season.

Defenders Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac have barely featured in the league in 2020-21.

"We cannot sustain the numbers that we have in certain positions," said Arteta.

"There are some players that are going to go on loan and going to leave, and that is the priority.

"Then we will see if we have the right opportunity in the positions where we need some more help."

When asked about reports that Bosnia-Herzegovina left-back Kolasinac is close to a return to former club Schalke,external-link Arteta said: ""The numbers we have in the squad at the moment are really big, but we cannot confirm anything yet."

Arsenal have three first-team players out on loan - centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos is at Stuttgart, while midfielders Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi are at Atletico Madrid and Hertha Berlin respectively.

The Gunners are 13th in the Premier League after 16 games, following back-to-back victories over Brighton and Chelsea that ended a run of seven matches without a win.

They host 19th-placed West Bromwich Albion on 2 January (20:00 GMT kick-off).

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113 comments

  • Off load Willian, he's a has been show pony on ridiculous wages. Whoever sanctioned that deal also needs to be offloaded!

    • ZiyechsLeftPeg replied:
      Chelsea fans could have, and indeed did, tell you this. On his day he's a super player with great work rate and over the years we certainly benefited from his input. However, we got his best years and his numbers were never great, even at his peak. Now he's 32 those good days will be further apart

  • I think it’s right for Arsenal to offload players but it would be a mistake to go on a spending spree. Arteta needs to prove himself first as there’s no point buying anyone if they sack him in the summer. The squad is already strong enough for them to do much better than they are currently doing.

  • People talking a load of nonsense- 9 points between Arsenal and 3rd place. 2 weeks ago Spurs were second and half of North London called for the season to be ended and certificates given out. With all the teams dropping or taking points from each other 3 wins in a row puts a team in the CL spots. The Prem League has changed, it's no longer a 4 team title race, and it's must better for it.

  • Make Willian one of these waste of space

    • david replied:
      tell me about it i had him in my fantasy team

  • Swap Ozil for Ramsey. Juve would and so should we.

    • kris replied:
      And replace one player on absurdly high wages with another? And one who has a horrific injury record at that. Ramsey did some great things for us, but there was a reason we didn’t compete with the wages offered by Juve.

  • I don't know how Arsenal are going to off load players given their current wages.

    Players past their prime on rediculous contracts. Maybe they should of load their current contract negogiator at the same time.

    If anything it will cost them more to buy out contracts.

    £350k per week for players who would be first choice for a Sunday football team. Good work if you can get it.

    • kris replied:
      They did... Raul Sanelli left and the scouting team who were responsible for many of the abject recruitment decisions was restructured at the same time.

  • Arteta always says the right things and has a monumental challenge getting rid of some of the vastly paid players at the club.

    Whether Arsenal fans like it or not it's gonna be a rebuild job for a few years before they can even contemplate getting in the top 4.

    Hopefully Arteta gets the time to do that. Problems at the club run far deeper than the manager.

  • Won’t make any difference offloading players if the board and execs stay the same. Like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic

    • Wurzelmangler replied:
      Yeah, it's a pity Arsenal can't sack Kroenke. Irrespective of who else is at the club, I fear the downward trend will continue as long as Kroenke is there.

  • Wenger in.

  • Agreed far too many Europa League players on Champions League wages. I'd rather we cleared out 10 and brought in 3 world class players and built up youngsters.

    • Morty replied:
      Europa League standard, most of them would look pedestrian in the championship.

  • He’s right. We should be concentrating on trying to recoup some money by selling players who don’t play, or are out of loan. We certainly can’t expect Kronke to shell out more money. Why should he ? He’s supplied £507 million on incoming players over the last 5 seasons. We need to stop wasting it before we can expect more.

  • You have to question who is making some of the decisions that have led to such an unbalanced, expensive and poor squad

  • So, let's get this clear. I do my job rather badly for a while, and my employer lends me to a company in Spain. Wow! Can't wait!

    • matbat10 replied:
      Players are assets, not employees. If the reverse was the case they’d sack them?

  • Offloading the board is a bigger priority.

    • boyracerfred replied:
      We have one owner, employing basic flunkies on the Board - look to who sold their shares allowing Silent Stan to take us over.

  • Could probably dispose of 10-15 players. That would be ideal.

    • Reddevil1963 replied:
      Can Arteta join the exodus?

  • Atleast he’s honest... there’s a myriad of other teams riddled with players who simply aren’t at it, and never will be. Need to filter out all the half arsed so called footballers (looking at you Paul Pogba) and get more players in who fit the mould or actually being interested and work hard. (John McGinn and Richarlison come to mind.)

  • Yep, get rid of mustafi, ozil, xhaka etc all on huge wages. Likewise Kolasinac, Torreira. Free up a million a week in wages. I would keep Guendozi for now. Hes got the engine, he just needs discipline.

    • anonymouse replied:
      Easier said than done. The players firstly have to want to leave, secondly there has to be a club willing to pay the wages demanded, thirdly the player is happy to join said club.

  • All clubs, not just Arsenal, find themselves saddled with players they don't really want because of the ridiculous contracts the players are on.
    Perhaps they should try drafting the contracts such that the player only gets the astronomical wages if they are in the first team squad. Injured players could still be paid but if a player is dropped from the squad go down to £500 per week.

    • matbat10 replied:
      We’re just double checking this comment.

  • Single signings (like Partey or Pepe) won't be enough. If youre Arsenal you have to buy 5 top players in a transfer window to stand any chance of competing. Arteta or any other manager is not the problem.

  • As arsenal seem to be offloading players as a priority i am amazed how Ozil has been left out of squads and never been loaned. If for example he is loaned out and all his wages paid by arsenal that would still be a better outcome than having him hang around like a bad penny. Teams do this all the time, to boost team moral. Sanchez at united seems the most recent high profile example.

    • anonymouse replied:
      Ozil has said he does not want to leave Arsenal or London. The player has to want to go as well and for £350k I would be happy to sit around if the club have made it clear I am not wanted, they gave me the contract in the first instance.

      Sanchez wanted out at United a month after signing, that's the clear difference in situations.

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