Arsenal’s rebuilding, the path has been paved

Since long before the departure of Arsene Wenger, Arsenal FC has fallen into a status quo that could be described as conformist, without great aspirations in any of the competitions that they compete in and considering winning an FA Cup as a major achievement. This is nothing like the old Arsenal side that won the English Premier League without suffering a defeat or that was a rival to fear in the UEFA Champions League.

Mikel Arteta is in search of a way out of this dynamic and make the club relive the times of success. To do this, he must restructure many things at Arsenal FC as the club’s financial situation is quite complicated and it is enough to remember the Gunnersaurus episode, where they couldn’t afford to pay the club’s mascot.

To begin this rebuilding, Arsenal plans to sell several players that are not in Arteta’s consideration such as Mustafi, Elneny, Nelson, Chambers, Willock and Papastathopoulos. To this, it must be added the almost confirmed departures of Mesut Ozil and Kolasinac in this same January transfer window. There is talk of signing Julian Brandt from Borussia Dortmund or Emiliano Buendía from Norwich City, an operation in which Nelson or Willock could be included as swap deals.

Mesut Ozil’s departure could lighten the salary burden since the German has a salary of €20 million per year. However, the club has other important contracts such as that of Aubameyang, Willian or David Luiz that in all cases exceed 30 years of age, something that can be detrimental to the future of the club. On the other hand, there is the case of Granit Xhaka that has had problems with the fans and he also didn’t have the expected performance. In this sense, it would be logical for the Swiss footballer to leave the club as well.

As for the replacement of several of these players, Arsenal should bet on young players that they already have in their squad such as Saka, Martinelli, Smith Rowe, Nketiah or Gabriel, who should be the future of the Gunners, in order to start to improve the economic situation of the club and give the squad a breath of fresh air. This type of rebuilding must be accompanied by the support of the board as a project of the institution, following a plan that balances the sporting with the economic and avoid cases such as the one that occurred with Valencia this season.