Five Arsenal players who could leave in January

Tom Weber

• Updated: 11 Dec 2024 19:30 GMT
• 4 min read

Arsenal may be set for a busier January transfer window than initially thought.

The Gunners are once more in a Premier League title challenge despite not signing a big-name striker in the summer. Mikel Arteta has built a well-balanced squad that is capable of beating any team in Europe.

Still, the Spaniard has not ruled out dipping into the January market for potential reinforcements. However, Arsenal will have to be mindful of Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability Rules after several summer windows of heavy spending.

READ MORE: Five players who could join Arsenal in January

While the north London giants are not under immediate threat of falling foul of the regulations, they can't spend lavishly without potential sales, which means that some players could depart the Emirates mid-season.

Below, FootballTransfers looks at five players who could leave Arsenal in January...

Oleksandr Zinchenko (Left-back)

Arsenal are well-stocked in the defensive department and yet they have repeatedly been forced to utilise all of their available depth due to rotten luck with injuries to key players in the backline.

When everyone is fit, however, there are several players who struggle to get regular minutes and could look for an exit to prevent their careers from stagnating. Oleksandr Zinchenko is one such star, who has seen his influence diminish drastically since his first season at Arsenal.

Already in the summer, the Gunners were open to a potential sale and this stance will not have massively changed for January even if Arsenal, like any club, would prefer to keep their squad together until the end of the campaign.

READ MORE: Latest Arsenal transfer news

Kieran Tierney (Left-back)

From one left-back to another, Kieran Tierney is perhaps even more likely to depart than Zinchenko. The Scotland international is a forgotten man at Arsenal due to his persistent injury problems.

Tierney spent the previous season on loan at Real Sociedad but failed to stay fit for the entire season and the LaLiga side refrained from making his move permanent.

With Tierney reduced to nothing more than a rarely-seen rotational player at Arsenal, a January exit is likely.

Jakub Kiwior (Centre-back)

Jakub Kiwior is another left-sided player who could depart Arsenal in search of more regular playing time. Capable of playing centre-back and left-back, the Pole has been a reliable player for Arteta since joining in January 2023.

However, Kiwior has found minutes hard to come by this season, only being afforded proper chances to impress when players have been out injured.

Italian clubs have been interested in the former Spezia man since the summer and could look to act on their interest in January. Some reports have claimed that Napoli have already had a €15 million bid rejected, with Arsenal demanding at least €25m.

Takehiro Tomiyasu (Right-back)

The fourth and final defender on this list is Takehiro Tomiyasu. Generally one of Arteta's favourite players, injuries have seen him spend more time on the treatment table than on the pitch in recent times.

Due to his recurring problems, the Japan international has become a drain on the Gunners' resources and they would reluctantly sanction a sale in January should suitable offers arrive.

A potential problem, of course, is that clubs will think twice about making 'suitable offers' for the oft-injured defender, especially in the winter. Still, the former Bologna star is known to still have admirers in Serie A.

Gabriel Jesus (Striker)

Gabriel Jesus is never not linked with an exit from Arsenal and it's not hard to see why. Like Tomiyasu, the Brazilian struggles to stay fit for any extended period of time and this has seen him lose his place in the side.

Firmly behind Kai Havertz in the pecking order now, the ambitious Brazilian can't be happy with his situation and speculation surrounding his future has been rampant.

While Arteta has branded talk of a potential January sale as 'nonsense,' the fact of the matter is that Arsenal would not turn their nose up if a club offered them the chance to recoup a large chunk of their original €52.2m outlay.

Whether such a bid arrives is, of course, a different question.