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Arsenal are looking to get back into the Champions League for next season after spending two years in the Europa League. They may well have to get rid off quite a few of their players to generate some funds for purchase of some new ones with much more quality. Selling players to generate money is the only option for Arsenal as their owner Stan Kroenke refuses to invest into the club from his own kitty.
The Gunners have performed above expectations under their new boss Unai Emery this season and are already 12 points ahead of last season's tally at this same stage (with 8 more rounds of matches to go). Arsenal are in 4th place, just 1 point below 3rd placed Tottenham Hotspur and are also in the quarter-finals of the Europa League where they face Napoli. But in order to compete with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City they would need much more quality and depth in the squad.
Players with contracts expiring at the end of the season :
Stephen Lichtsteiner , Carl Jenkinson , Danny Welbeck , Nacho Monreal , Aaron Ramsey & Petr Cech.
On Loan :
Takuma Asano , David Ospina.
Aaron Ramsey has already signed a 5-year contract with Juventus, whereas Petr Cech has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. Lichtsteiner will surely be offloaded considering his age and Maitland Niles now playing backup right-back instead of him.
Napoli would look to use the option to buy Ospina from Arsenal at the end of the season. The Gunners are likely to get rid off Carl Jenkinson as there has been no news of them offering the player a contract extension. Nacho Monreal will stay at Arsenal till the end of next season as Arsenal have exercised the option for another year on his contract as reported by ESPN and the Mirror.
Danny Welbeck could be offered a new 1 or 2 year contract after he suffered a season ending injury as he was in good form prior to the injury and could play back-up to Aubameyang and Lacazette.
Let us look at players who have contracts beyond this June but are still expected to be sold.
Shkodran Mustafi:
The German international was bought during Wenger's tenure from Valencia for a reported £35 million. Since then, he has failed to perform consistently for the Gunners. His place in the starting XI is also in doubt since Sokratis was signed and formed a good partnership with Rob Holding.
After the latter got injured , Emery has preferred to start Koscielny ahead of him whenever he opts for a back 4. Mustafi has been guilty of committing unnecessary and unforced errors quite often which has led to Arsenal conceding goals as well, the most recent being the foul on Harry Kane, giving away a penalty to the North London rivals.
If rumours are to be believed, Daily Mail reported that Arsenal were trying to sell Mustafi last summer in order to get a new CB with the Gunners being linked to Caglar Soyuncu and Benjamin Pavard. Mustafi's contract allows him to stay at Arsenal until 2021 but the North London club will most likely sell him this summer.
Mohamed Elneny:
The Egyptian who once was a regular in at least the cup competitions has now been left out completely by Unai Emery. Arsenal signed 2 midfielders in the summer, Torreira and Guendouzi, and both have been performing exceptionally well.
Even Granit Xhaka's performances have improved. Hence there is no place right now for Elneny to fit in, unless Arsenal go through some major injury crisis. Elneny has been restricted to a meagre 11 appearances in all competitions so far this season. With Denis Suarez also arriving in January and Willock impressing for the Arsenal Under-23s, Elneny could well be deprived even of the limited opportunities.
There were already rumours and the Sun and Mirror had also reported that Leicester City were looking to acquire the services of the Egyptian for a reported £15 million. If he expects to play week in week out, then he would have to look somewhere else for playing time.
Calum Chambers:
Calum Chambers was loaned out to Fulham for the 2018/2019 season by the Gunners so that he could gain some playing time. But the opportunity to leave an impression on Emery seems to have gone. Chambers initially played as a centre-back in the Fulham side but recently has been playing in central midfield alongside Seri and Cairney.
Fulham have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season ,a total of 68 and seem destined to be relegated to the Championship. Given the versatility that Chambers has, he can play in 3 different positions , centre-back ,right-back and defensive midfield there is a case to keep him at the club.
But Rob Holding is supposed to return from injury next season and Arsenal would look for a new CB in-case Mustafi leaves the club. Sokratis, Koscielny and Mavropanos are already present. Mavropanos was unlucky with the injury which stalled his progress, but he will definitely be given his chance next season.
So Calum Chambers getting a chance at CB seems to be gone. Arsenal already are well to do right now in the midfield position , with Torreira and Guendouzi arriving in the summer and performing exceptionally well, Xhaka showing what he is capable of in recent weeks and Suarez arriving in January on loan with an option to buy.
In the right back position Bellerin is the first choice by a mile and during his injury Maitland Niles has been more than decent. If Arsenal want to buy a RB in the summer as back up to Bellerin, they would most probably buy a genuine RB rather than play Chambers. There is a chance that he could be loaned again to some other club, but with Arsenal needing funds to invest in the squad he could well be on his way out.
