Photo by Kieran Lynam
This summer will be a crucial one for Arsenal not only in terms of arrivals, but also due to departures. With several first-team fringe players leaving, a big chunk of the wage budget is getting freed up while additional transfer money will also likely come in.
We can start off with the players who will be released this summer. One of them is Andrey Arshavin; the talented Russian is finally released after a promising Arsenal stint, which ultimately went downhill. Having helped the Gunners in various occasions such as helping them remain in the top four in 2008-2009 as well as the famous 2-1 win over Barcelona, the former Russian captain will still be remembered fondly by most but most of all, his departure frees up a squad place as well as over reportedly £75-95k (depending on your source) per week in wages.
Sebastien Squillaci is another player who will be a free agent — having endured a nightmare stint with Arsenal as a whole despite the Frenchman being brought in to provide experience to the backline, he just couldn’t adapt to the pace of the Premier League as well as being too error prone. Having not made a single league start in the last two seasons, the former France international who earns £50k per week will finally be released.
The final player who will be released is Denilson. With his only ever decent spell coming in 2008/2009, injuries and the rise of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey have caused Denilson to become a fringe player at Arsenal as he has spent the last two seasons on loan to boyhood club, Sao Paulo. However, with no club ready to spend on the Brazilian, Arsenal finally terminated his contract through mutual consent, which frees up around £60k per week.
On to players who still have contracts past this summer, Andre Santos also looks like he will be on the market. After a somewhat decent start to his Arsenal career, it all went downhill in the 2012-2013 season as Santos lost the support of the fans after many poor performances and an infamous shirt swap with former captain, Robin van Persie during the Gunners’ 2-1 loss to Manchester United. Having spent the latter half of the season on loan to Gremio and impressing to an extent, it looks like the Brazilian will be returning to Arsenal as he will prove too expensive for the Brazilian outfit to make the deal permanent. Arsenal would be doing a good job if they can permanently offload Santos in the summer who earns around £60k per week and would probably command a fee of £1-4 million.
Another player who had a decent spell was Johan Djourou. But having been dropped to fourth in the pecking order for a central defender spot, Djourou was sent on loan to Hannover and there have been talks that the loan deal could be made permanent. If it does come off, Arsenal would save another £50k per week and earn around £1-5 million.
Having lost his confidence and ability to make an impact, Maroune Chamakh was another fringe player sent out on loan this past season to West Ham United only to not make an appearance for months. With wages of £60k per week, it appears that he would need to take wage cut to return to old club, Bordeaux and there seems to be an indication that he’s ready to do that this summer, probably costing £2-3 million.
A talented striker with the wrong attitude, Nicklas Bendtner has spent the last two seasons away on loan. His latest season was marred by injuries and it appears that he’ll have to settle for a smaller club (not playing in the Champions League.) The Big Dane — who earns £50k per week — however has said that he could be leaving Arsenal in less than 2 weeks, having been linked with a few German clubs and would probably command a fee of £2-3 million.
Lastly, probably the most bizarre Arsenal signing ever, Park Chu Young — who hasn’t made a single league start since joining in 2011 — is probably in limbo right now. He hasn’t been the most impressive at loan club, Celta Vigo and there appears to be no news on his possible future. If he is offloaded however, Arsenal would be freeing up around £50k per week and probably receiving a transfer fee of around £1-2 million.
If Arsenal get their way in the summer transfer window in terms of departures, they could be freeing up to £458k per week in wages and receiving around £19 million in transfer fees at the most — which would be a great summer clear out.
