The Athletic’s James McNicholas has listed the two players Arsenal look most likely to sell in order to fix their issues in defence.
It has been reported for some time that the Gunners want to offload a number of individuals who aren’t deemed good enough for Mikel Arteta.
However, with Joe Willock being the only significant sale this summer, there are still plenty of unwanted footballers in north London.
At right-back, this seems to be a particularly pertinent issue, outlined against Brentford when Arteta picked Calum Chambers to start and then brought on left-back Nuno Tavares as his replacement – while leaving Hector Bellerin, Cedric and Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the bench.
While speaking on an Arsecast Extra podcast, McNicholas claimed that the club had too many options there, and listed the names that were most likely to leave.
He said: “With the right-back situation, to be honest, even four is too many to carry through a season, right? So that’s [departures] got to happen somewhere along the line.
“I’ve always thought Bellerin and Maitland-Niles were the likeliest ones to go. And I still think they’re probably the two that we might be able to get out.”
TIF Thoughts on Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Arsenal…
Inter were reported to have an interest in Hector Bellerin this summer, but Arsenal were not happy to loan him out and instead sought some kind of fee.
That deal now looks unlikely as Inter have signed Denzel Dumfries on a permanent deal from PSV as an alternative.
A number of clubs are also believed to be looking at Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but as of now, it seems that there is nothing concrete on the table.
Arsenal may well regret failing to sell the midfielder to Wolves back in 2020, when the club came in with a reported £20m bid.