Premier League Mikel Arteta Arsenal EPL
Mikel Arteta Arsenal

Arsenal have cleared out a lot of deadwood in January and Mikel Arteta has hinted that the club will do the same in the summer as well.

Arteta was asked about Arsenal’s possible new signings at the end of the season and the manager has hinted that the club will likely focus on balancing their net spend.

He told the press: “If you see the wage [bill] that we have and we had, it’s night and day. So it’s not only about spending, it’s about what you have sold.

“We had 28 players and we ended up with 19 in the squad, so it’s about the total expenditure. Because if not that figure is irrelevant. Because what is the total annual cost of the squad you are building?

“The numbers you could produce six years ago in this league, today you are out of Europe. It’s as simple as that.

“We know that and the plan we have is to be able to compete with these teams, but we don’t know what resources other teams will have. But we know other teams are starting from a different position, because they are in a different moment but we still need to have the aim to do that, because if you don’t, where do you end up?

“Just looking back, I don’t want to do that. So we need to find ways to be able to compete with them, like we have done this season, because nobody expected us to do that with the squad we had and the expectation we had.”

Are more clearouts expected within the Arsenal camp?

The North London side sent out a host of players in January, without buying even a single new one so it’s very obvious that several new signings will be coming in during the summer.

As far as the exits are concerned, players like Lacazette, Nketiah and Nicolas Pepe are all going to leave in the next few months so Arsenal will be able to clear a lot of their wage bills.

Mikel Arteta has undertaken a major rebuilding job so he’s clearly not making any hasty decisions.

There’s a flip side to this as well:

Edu and Arteta have gotten rid of all the unwanted players in the past year but this also means Arsenal have to sign a host of new players.

Despite the lack of squad depth, Arsenal have shown tremendous strength to still remain in the hunt for a top-four spot but there’s no way they will be able to sustain it for the whole of next season.

Without Champions League football it will be really hard for the Gunners to bring in top-quality players so there’s a chance Arsenal might have to be satisfied with some sub-par players. Players like Darwin Nunez have already rejected offers from non-UCL clubs and if Arsenal finish fifth then they too will fall out of some of the major transfer battles.

Anyhow, Arsenal will have to bring in at least 10 to 12 new players in the summer and there’s a major possibility that several rotten apples will make it into the squad, hiding amidst such a massive bunch.

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