Arsenal Latest Transfer Rumours – Who Could Come In & Who Could Depart?
Arsenal fans lauded head of operations Raul Sanllehi last summer after he presided over an exhilarating transfer window. In came Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos and David Luiz, while a considerable amount of deadwood was offloaded, leading supporters to dub the man behind the scenes “Don Raul”.
Gooners across the world dared to dream of a strong season, but those dreams quickly turned to nightmares. Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey have been sorely missed, while the new arrivals have underwhelmed thus far. Unai Emery was sacked and Mikel Arteta was parachuted in to save the season, inheriting a squad with more holes than the proverbial Swiss cheese.
We are now in mid-January and the Gunners find themselves languishing in 10th place, with a negative goal difference and issues at both ends of the pitch. The need to bolster the squad is glaring, but it is notoriously difficult to find value in the January transfer window. Who might Arsenal sign this month as they bid to surge up the Premier League table, and who might leave the club?
Potential Signings
John Stones
Arsenal’s most glaring weakness lies at centre-back. The Gunners have looked suspect in this department for years, and they have very few reliable options right now. Sokratis and Luiz have both struggled this season, while Shkodran Mustafi’s miserable spell in north London appears to be drawing to a close.
Callum Chambers is out injured and Rob Holding is inexperienced and injury-prone, so reinforcements are clearly needed at the back. Arsenal clearly feel they do not have enough erratic, error-prone centre-backs on their books, so they are in the hunt for Stones.
The former Everton star is out of favour at The Etihad after committing a number of high-profile blunders. Euro 2020 looms large on the horizon and Stones will be desperate to secure playing time as he bids to earn a place in the England team, so he could agitate for a move this month. Arteta worked with him at Man City and is said to have made the defender his number one transfer target.
Stones was once the most highly rated youngster in the Premier League and he still looks supremely comfortable on the ball. If Arteta can hone his defensive attributes, Arsenal could be left with a magnificent player, but that is a big if.
Jerome Boateng
World Cup winner Boateng could provide a short-term solution to the Gunners’ lack of bodies at the back. He has demanded to leave Bayern Munich this month after learning that he will not be a guaranteed starter under new coach Hansi Flick, and Arsenal have been linked with a bid.
His wages could prove to be a sticking point, as Boateng earns a reported £196,000 per week. However, it is rumoured that Bayern would consider waiving a potential £12 million transfer fee in order to get him off the wage bill. That could allow Arsenal to offer him a lucrative two-year contract, which seems reasonable for a 31-year-old that has won a great deal of silverware throughout his glittering career.
Arsenal signed exciting youngster William Saliba last summer and loaned him back to St Etienne for the season. They are also keen on purchasing RB Leipzig star Dayot Upemecano when the current campaign ends, and he could form a strong partnership with Saliba.
Boateng could tide them over in the second half of the season and then compete with that duo for a place in 2020/21, provided he has the legs to cope with the rigours of the Premier League.
Boubakary Soumaré
The young Lille midfielder has emerged as one of the hottest properties in world football and Arsenal will have to move fast if they are to beat competition for his signature. Rivals Man Utd and Chelsea are weighing up bids for the 20-year-old, who has been a key pillar of Lille’s impressive season.
The Gunners have been heavily linked with a move, and it would make perfect sense. They are light on quality in the centre of the park. Granit Xhaka’s status remains in doubt, Ceballos has not set the world alight and Matteo Guendouzi still looks a little too raw to regularly start for a side that harbours ambitions of cracking the top four of the Premier League.
Lucas Torreira is Arsenal’s only decent holding midfielder, and snapping up Soumaré would significantly improve their squad. However, it would take a bid of around £50 million to convince Lille to do business, and the Gunners are strapped for cash right now, so this rumour looks unlikely to come to fruition.
Thomas Lemar
Arsenal came within a whisker of signing Lemar in the summer of 2017. They dithered on the deal for too long, and he eventually decided against a move to London, before joining Atletico Madrid instead. Yet he has struggled for form during his time at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, scoring just three goals and registering three assists in 64 appearances across all competitions for Los Rojiblancos.
He may be better suited to the pace and physicality of the Premier League, and Arsenal have been linked with another bid. Arsene Wenger was once prepared to pay €100 million for Lemar’s services, and he was a member of France’s World Cup-winning squad, so his pedigree is high.
The Gunners may lack the funds to sign him, but they could be tempted by a swap deal. Alexandre Lacazette almost joined Atletico Madrid a couple of years ago, but they were hit with a transfer ban and he ended up moving to Arsenal instead. Now Diego Simeone wants to finally bring him to the Spanish capital, and Arteta could deem him surplus to requirements, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang capable of leading the line with aplomb and Gabriel Martinelli serving as a reliable understudy.
Arsenal are significant outsiders in the battle to finish in the top four this season, as highlighted by these markets here, but Lemar could change all that if he moves to The Emirates and rediscovers his best form.
Others
The rumour mill has gone into overdrive this month and Arsenal have been linked with dozens of weird and wonderful players from across the globe. Talented Brazilian youngster Bruno Guimares has been mooted, but Arsenal may have to shelve that deal until the summer.
They are also interested in Norwich full-back Max Aarons, as he can play at right-back and left-back. Hector Bellerin and Tierney have spent many weeks on the treatment table this season, so reliable cover on both flanks would be welcome.
Dries Mertens has also been mentioned, as he is keen to leave Napoli and has just six months left on his contract, but a free transfer in the summer might make more sense. Hakan Calhanoglu has also been linked with a loan move from AC Milan.
Potential Departures
Shkodran Mustafi
Mustafi has been routinely booed by his own fans in recent months and many supporters would be glad to see the back of him. His time at the club has been defined by error-strewn performances and he is simply too much of a liability to be trusted with a place in the starting 11.
His agent has held talks with Turkish side Galatasaray and Arsenal would not stand in his way if they manage to meet his wage demands. He was expected to leave in the summer, but then Koscielny decided to force through a move to Bordeaux and Mustafi ended up staying. He has been a bit-part player this season, and a move to Turkey might allow him to kick-start his career.
Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal’s lopsided squad leaves the club’s power brokers with a conundrum. The Gunners possess two valuable forwards, while they desperately need to strengthen in other areas, so it would make sense to sell one of them.
It is difficult to fit Aubameyang and Lacazette into the same team. One of them has to play out wide, and that is invariably Aubameyang, as Lacazette struggles on the flanks. Yet Aubameyang is a better finisher and he boasts a vastly superior goals per minutes ratio, so the Gunners would probably look sharper with him leading the line.
They are clearly great friends and in an ideal world Arsenal would keep both players, allowing Lacazette to provide back up to Aubameyang. But Arsenal’s squad is far from ideal right now, and it might make sense to offload the Frenchman.
His contract runs until 2022, whereas Aubameyang’s expires next summer, but Arsenal cannot seriously contemplate selling their captain in January, so Lacazette may have to make way if the club needs to raise funds this month. In reality they are likely to retain the services of both men until at least the summer, but rumours linking the French forward with a transfer will not go away.
Eddie Nketiah
Arsenal recalled Nketiah from a loan spell at Championship side Leeds Utd as he was not given enough minutes under Marcelo Bielsa’s tutelage. He may play a part this month, as Aubameyang has been hit with a three-game suspension, but he is likely to be loaned out to another club before the window slams shut.
Bristol City are the frontrunners and they should wrap up a deal for the talented young Englishman soon. Konstantinos Mavropanos has already joined Nürnberg on loan, and Nketiah should also be afforded the chance to get some minutes under his belt. Granit Xhaka now looks set to stay at the club, so there should be very few outgoings during the current transfer window.
