As another Premier League season draws to an end it naturally invites the start of transfer talk, here is a look at the players who could be leaving Arsenal in the summer.
End of Contracts
Mathieu Flamini
Flamini has been on a year rolling contract since he rejoined the club a few years ago but this runs out in July. In his first season back he was effective within the team but in the last year he has barely made any appearances after a few weak performances and the form of other players has kept him out of the team. It is very likely that Arsenal won’t complete another year deal for Flamini and he’ll be free to leave.
Mikel Arteta
It will be a bitter sweet moment to see Arteta leave the club as his first few seasons with us we filled with some really outstanding performances but age coupled with injury issues has seen the decline in his game and he is no longer a necessity to the team. He always had a tough job at Arsenal having been signed as a Fabregas replacement but he really did put in a good effort.
Abou Diaby
The player that could have been has finally come to the end of his 9 year stay at the club, most of which has unfortunately been spent on the physio couch instead of on the pitch. Once tipped to be the next Vieira it is a shame that Diaby has been so injury prone throughout his Arsenal career as he really did have the potential to be amazing and we did see glimmers of that in his earlier years at the club but he won’t play a full season again in his condition.
Potential transfers out
Lukas Podolski
We all know our happy German is wanting to either be played or to be allowed to leave and I think the latter will occur come the end of May. Podolski is a much debated about player in terms of talent, some of us rate him and some of us don’t and Wenger seems to agree with one of half of that thinking too. Personally I think Podolski is still good enough to play but when everyone is fit who do you drop for him and he wants to play every game so it’s likely he will return to his home club FC Köln.
Joel Campbell
Another fed up Arsenal star desperately waiting for his chance to play for the first team and prove he’s good enough for a regular place. We all know Campbell has bundles of potential but will he ever get a long enough run to prove it with Wenger preferring Giroud and Welbeck as his choice of strikers. It must be frustrating for Campbell especially when Arsenal are crying out for a pacey forward or even playing him wide would benefit the team. There will be teams everywhere that will want to sign Campbell should he be allowed to leave.
Wojciech Szczesny
It has been a tough season for Szczesny, Arsenal didn’t start well and the defensive errors in the first few months of the season really put a lot of pressure on him to be in full form but he wasn’t. Szczesny has struggled a bit with certain aspects of his goalkeeping and he hasn’t quite lived up to his potential or even his performances from previous seasons. As well as the dip in form there was the ‘smoking in the shower’ incident which he received a fine for but he was promptly dropped from the team and replaced with Ospina who was good enough to keep out of league games for the remainder of the season. With Cech and Casillas rumoured to be transfer targets this summer it could see Szczesny making his way out of the Emirates.
Shock Transfers
Santi Cazorla
Despite a rough start to the season Cazorla’s performances excelled from October onwards and even when the team didn’t match the form it was Cazorla alongside Sanchez who carried us through. Every season we see the best from Cazorla but are we enough for him to want to stay? He has been heavily tipped for a move back to Spain for a while now and the desire to improve his chances of getting into the Spanish national team could mean this move might happen this summer. There are no shortage of clubs who want Cazorla, Malaga and Atletico Madrid top the list but it would be great if Arsenal could keep him at the club.
Mesut Ozil
This might be a shock to some people but I think whether you rate him or not every Gooner suspects that Mesut Ozil might leave this summer. I’ve never seen a set of football fans so divided over one person and it’s mainly down to what you prefer from a player of his nature. Some fans want him to track back others appreciate that his talents lie in the more creative aspect of his play. He is the player that is under most pressure at Arsenal and criticised most by media, pundits and even fans on a continual basis but yet when he does put in some great performances it’s never rewarded with the right praise and often goes unnoticed. It’s hard for a player to settle in the Premier League and if they are under pressure to perform like Ozil unduly is then it could lead to early departure.
Jack Wilshere
The injury prone midfielder has already been subjected to transfer rumours including a potential £30mil bid from Manchester City and Arsenal could possibly cash in on Wilshere this summer. Wilshere has moments of brilliance such as his goal against West Brom at the weekend but they are just moments and never a period of consistent good performances. Arsenal would be mad to turn down £30mil for Wilshere….wouldn’t they?