The fringe players who will leave Arsenal next
Suraj Radia
- 2 Aug 2022 17:13 BST
- 3 min read
Arsenal are planning to sell more fringe players as they look to recoup transfer revenue and reshape their squad ahead of the new season.
The Gunners are the highest spenders of the transfer window, having splashed more than £100 million on the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira.
The focus is now on shifting on fringe players as Arsenal look to trim their side to avoid leaving players unregistered as wasted wages from their 25-man squad.
Lucas Torreira is believed to be on the verge of a move to Galatasaray, having spent the last two seasons out on loan, while Bernd Leno is having a medical at Fulham.
Folarin Balogun is also set to join Ligue 1 side Reims on loan while defender Pablo Mari could also leave Arsenal in quick succession, with Serie A duo Monza and Verona interested.
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Arsenal are set to make a significant loss on Torreira, having paid £26m for him in 2018, with Galatasaray agreeing a fee of £5m with an additional £2.5m in bonuses.
The same can be said for Leno, who joined in the same summer for £22.5m but will sign for Fulham for just £8m despite starting last season as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper.
The Gunners were hoping to raise around £50m from selling their fringe players but have only received around £12m so far after Marseille and Stuttgart activated their options on Matteo Guendouzi and Konstantinos Mavropanos respectively.
Signings under Sven Mislintat:
- Konstantinos Mavropanos
- Matteo Guendouzi
- Sokratis Papastathopoulos
- Bernd Leno
- Stephan Lichtsteiner
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan
- Lucas Torreira
- P-E Aubameyang
With Leno and likely Torreira leaving, no more. Just hasn't worked out for most.💎👁️— AfcVIP⁴⁹ (@VipArsenal) August 1, 2022
Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Runarsson are still looking to be moved on in order to cut the wage bill but it is likely that Arsenal will receive nothing more than nominal fees for them.
With the likes of Reiss Nelson, Nicolas Pepe and Mari also being told they can leave the club, Arsenal are desperate to offload fringe players before considering any more incomings.
Mikel Arteta is still hoping to bring in at least one other player but Arsenal are determined to move on high-earning players who may not be registered in their Premier League squad.
