Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal has named a group of players he believes the club are looking to move on this summer during a recent video on his YouTube channel.
Having announced a contract extension for David Luiz back in June, the permanent signing of Pablo Mari, the news the Gunners are closing in on a deal to sign Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille, and with William Saliba joining the squad recently after his loan spell at Saint-Etienne, centre-back is a position in which the journalist feels Arsenal may be looking to trim down the squad.
Speaking about transfers specifically, Watts said: “In terms of Sokratis [Papastathopoulos], Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding or Callum Chambers, if offers do arrive for those over the coming weeks, Arsenal will be looking to move those on because they’re going to have to reduce numbers.”
Do you think Arsenal will be able to move on all four of these players this summer?
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TIF Thoughts…
It’s clear from his comments that Watts believes the club would be happy to move on any of the aforementioned players should any potential takers come forward and express a concrete interest. However, as things stand, there is nothing to suggest any of the four defenders are close to securing a move away from the North London club.
Sokratis and Mustafi have both recently been linked with a move to Napoli after it came to light that the Gunners had moved ahead of the Serie A club in the race to sign Gabriel.
The combined value of all four of these players is £45.45m according to Transfermarkt.co.uk – funds that, in our view, would assist Mikel Arteta significantly as he looks to rebuild at the Emirates Stadium and restore Arsenal’s status as a Champions League club.