Arteta makes unexpected Arsenal exit decisions for quartet after already sanctioning double sale
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has a somewhat surprising stance regarding four players who have been tipped to leave the Emirates Stadium in the summer, it has been claimed.
It could be a very interesting summer transfer window at Arsenal if they win the Premier League this season. They will need to prepare their squad for a return to Champions League football. Arteta will likely be eyeing new players who can help them make further marginal gains.
Yet despite the positive mood at Arsenal at the moment, some of their existing players could be questioning their futures. Aware that competition for places could increase, some squad members who are already on the fringes have been tipped to leave.
A report from Football Transfers has focused on the futures of Kieran Tierney, Folarin Balogun, Emile Smith Rowe and Rob Holding.
According to the website, Arteta doesn’t actually want any of them to leave, despite Balogun being out on loan and the other three only managing six Premier League starts between them this season.
Instead, the Arsenal manager would prefer to keep all four players within his plans. The report points to how he values Holding’s leadership abilities, for example.
Holding has been behind William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes in the centre-back pecking order this season. Benjamin White would also likely be preferred to him if he wasn’t operating at right-back.
But the 27-year-old, whose contract is due to expire at the end of next season unless Arsenal activate a 12-month extension option, could be encouraged to stick around.
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As for Tierney, there have been a few exit links since summer signing Oleksandr Zinchenko overtook him in the pecking order at left-back.
However, Football Transfers relays that Arteta doesn’t have faith in the other alternatives to Zinchenko. Indeed, the report says Arsenal have put Nuno Tavares up for sale for after his loan spell with Marseille.
Arsenal only have two players up for sale
Along with Tavares, Arsenal are ready to sell Cedric Soares, who is spending the rest of the season with Fulham on loan.
Those two players are deemed to be the only ones definitely on Arsenal’s transfer list at this stage.
That said, Arteta won’t stand in the way of anyone else who wishes to leave, having taken a leaf out of the book of his former mentor at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola.
Therefore, there is still a chance that any of Tierney, Balogun, Smith Rowe and Holding could be on their way out.
But to call any of them surplus to requirements wouldn’t seem to be accurate judging by Football Transfers‘ information.
Balogun – who has been in fine form for Ligue 1 side Reims – is still under contract with Arsenal until 2025. Meanwhile, Tierney and Smith Rowe each have terms until 2026.
