New focus for Edu: Sell the underperformers at Arsenal

Maybe some fans will say that there is no stability in Arsenal, but it ain’t true, at least if we look at Gunners’ spending spree. Since Stan Kroenke bought the club in 2018, the sporting sector spent over 118 million euros every year for transfers alone, and this year is no exception. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos are worth over 120 million and they will put even more pressure on coach Mikel Arteta to achieve at least the fourth position and a long waited Champions League spot. But, such investment usually means that other players need to go.

As every year, sporting director Edu will try to offload some ‘dead wood’ in order to balance the books and trim to squad to 25 players. And if you ask the Brazilian, it’s a tough job.

“For me, there are three elements which in my role I have to be really prepared to be strong on the message to the players. When the player is 26-plus, (with a) big salary, and he's not performing, he's killing you because you don't have a valuation to sell the player. The player is comfortable – Arsenal, London, beautiful, everything is fantastic – and a good salary. How do you move this player? So how many players with that kind of characteristics did we have in the past? Eighty per cent of the squad, that's why I said to (the board) when I made my plan: guys, it's not easy to clean the squad straight away because most of the players have a 2-3-4 year contract. We need a strategy, we need to try to change things" said Edu to Football.London.

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So, who are players he is mentioning? Who will end his fairytale with Arsenal and London? There are two players who are currently only 12 months away from free agency and they will (probably) be the easiest to transfer. Hector Bellerin had a great season with Betis and a transfer or another loan is a strong possibility for the Spaniard as well as Lucas Torreira, who failed to get a permanent deal with Fiorentina after a season long loan, which means he will try to get back to Italy. The arrival of Matt Turner means that Bernd Leno, who started just four Premier League matches last season is surplus to requirements, and indeed, he is on the verge of signing for Fulham.

Nicolas Pepe. A pacey winger was bought from Lille three years ago for 84 million and he is currently worth maybe a third of that price. He is basically a player Edu was talking about when he mentioned players who are on a good wage but not performing. He will have a problem to move this player without making a huge loss. Spanish centre-back Pablo Mari had a good season as a loanee in Udinese and Galatasaray is interested to sign him. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is all but done at the Emirates and the clubs like Nottingham Forrest are the ones who would pay to get him. Now, depending on the transfer situation and Edu’s negotiating skills, Arsenal could earn up to 100 million euros if they managed to sell, not loan, these players. Good luck with that.