The 37 Players leaving Arsenal in this transfer window
By Sir Hardly Anyone
It is perhaps a little hard for journalists to remember (given that on average they have a mindspan similar to that of your garden pond goldfish), that throughout June and July the leading story of players who were leaving Arsenal was Hector Bellerin. Indeed it was not so much if or even when he was leaving, but the fact that he had already gone.
Barcelona wanted him, he’d had enough, he’d bought the house, the family had moved back and the new Barcelona was being built with him in mind. Etc etc.
Now of course we don’t hear these stories any more, and the journalists have forgotten they even wrote them
Ewan Roberts was one of the main criminals (or people with no journalistic insight, no integrity, no memory and an ability to treat football supporters with utter and total contempt, whichever you prefer) with stories such as “Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin open to Barcelona transfer and praises Ernesto Valverde” and “Hector Bellerin has opened the door to a return to Barcelona and says his family have already moved back to Catalonia.”
Simon Rice was another in the same paper with “Barcelona can turn attention to Hector Bellerin and Philippe Coutinho after Lionel Messi signs new deal”.
Then James Goldman came in with “Arsenal star Hector Bellerin claims ‘everything is more difficult’ as he appears desperate to make Barcelona transfer”.
Of course it wasn’t just them. The notorious John Cross in the Mirror went with “Barcelona prepare to launch £40m move for Hector Bellerin as Arsenal defender is made Catalans’ No.1 target” while Lee Astley in the Sun had to outdo that and ran “Barcelona set for £50million Hector Bellerin bid after new boss Ernesto Valverde gives transfer the OK”.
John Singer in the Sun said, Bellerin’s Arsenal future “could be in doubt after he welcomed interest from Barcelona and admitted he needs to be playing Champions League football.”
And on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on – because I haven’t even mentioned the pathetically childish bloggettas that reported that the Spanish press said the deal was done and he was arriving the next day. But I shall leave that for another episode.
So now it is all Alexis although the Telegraph is going down a different route saying “Arsenal have received a significant boost on the eve of the season with Paris Saint-Germain dropping their interest in Alexis Sanchez following the world record signing of Neymar.”
Make of that what you will. Anyway…
Here’s the updated OUT LIST.
| No | Player | Club | Notes |
| 1 | Akpom | His loan to Brighton was not a success after a long injury spell so it seems the club are looking to try another loan to regain his pre-injury sparkle | |
| 2.1 | Alexis | Man C | Guardiola making £50m offer his summer priority. £50m. Talk Sprout says it is done. Mirror says he is finalising. |
| 2.2 | Alexis | Chelsea | Will play out contract and go on a free to Chelsea. |
| 2.3 | Alexis | Man U | Has already agreed deal |
| 2.4 | Alexis | Nowhere | Mr Wenger has said “he is staying”. Or in some reports – he stays until we get Lemar |
| 2.5 | Alexis | Real Mad | Mentioned in lots of places. |
| 2.6 | Alexis | ??? | Arsenal had enough; anyone can have him for £80m |
| Update | Alexis | PSG | The club has met with Alexis’ agent for PSG move (Express). The Independent agrees saying it is £80m for Arsenal and £400k a week for Alexis |
| 2.8 | Alexis | Bayern | Evening Standard says this is the deal. Elsewhere though Bayern have “given up on Sanchez” |
| 2.9 | Alexis | Alexis to decide | Mertesacker has said that Alexis should be allowed to decide where he plays despite his contract. |
| NEW | Alexis | Resigned to staying | “Sources close to the player say he is increasingly resigning himself to the idea of staying at Arsenal for another season.” |
| NEW | Alexis | Man C to wait | The story is Man City are perfectly happy to wait til next summer for a free, and certain the CAS will not ban them from any more transfers over Argentine fiasco. |
| NEW | Alexis | PSG give up | Having done the big deal in order for Qatar to show the world they are still there despite the blockade, they aren’t giving PSG the money. Wenger says they want MBappe |
| 3 | Takuma Asano | Stuggart | He’s staying put as there is no work permit for UK yet. |
| 4 | Krystian Bielik | Birmingham | City keen to extend loan for another year. Norwich keen. Also Nottm Forest. Could go to Leeds – but he went on the Ozzie tour so if he goes out it presumably will only be on loan. And we might need him for the first couple of weeks. |
| Update | Bellerin | Barcelona | Barce are getting him on a cut price deal (details of which are unclear). He’s bought a house in Barcelona. He has asked for a transfer and Arsenal has refused. Barcelona have given up and are looking elsewhere. No he has already gone. No not going anywhere. See also above. |
| NEW | Marc Bola | Bristol Rovers | Loan |
| Update | Campbell | Fenerbahce | Currently in talks to sign. No its Greece. But no, sadly he was injured playing for his country and will be out until the end of the year. Not been given a number for the season |
| 8 | Chambers | Newcastle | Or it could be Everton. There seems some uncertainty. Palace made a bid of £20m (Mirror) no £16m (Telegraph). TalkSp said last week it happens this week to Palace |
| Completed | Crowley | Willem II | News reports say this transfer is going through and that he is about to be presented to reporters. |
| Update | Francis Coquelin | Valencia | This story has been going on and on and on… The update is a series of stories in blogs saying he’s no good anyway. |
| 11. | Debuchy | Newcastle | Being made available on a free. No he’s off to Nice. |
| NEW | Elneny | Leicester | Arsenal have accepted a £10m bid but the player is refusing to leave. |
| NEW | Gabriel | Valencia | The Sun says he is going for £11m |
| Update | Gibbs | Newcastle Watford, WBA | Didn’t go on the summer tour and was injured for the Borehamwood game. Watford don’t like the price so the suggestion is, AFC have cut it in half. Mail is reporting Newcastle interest. TalkSport said WBA this week. That was 2 weeks ago. |
| 15.1 | Olivier Giroud | Marseille | He wants to play more games. Marseille to make an offer right at the close of the window to force Arsenal to deal. |
| 15.2 | Giroud | West Ham | They really want him as they need more pace! |
| 15.3 | Giroud | No move | Wenger wants to keep him hence the new contract signed earlier |
| 15.4 | Giroud | Everton | Despite already signing over 150 players this summer, Everton want Giroud as well. “We’ll see who we’ve got when the window closes and pick a team from that” said A Spokesman. |
| 15.5 | Giroud | Borussia Dortmund | Apparently this is the one that really is true. Honest. |
| Completed | Kaylen Hinds | Wolfsburg | £2m transfer – never predicted anywhere. |
| 17. | Jenkinson | Newcastle | Newc just promoted, need players, but no real noise concerning his move except from Daily Mail. |
| Update | Glen Kamara | Released | Signed for Dundee. Not mentioned anywhere. |
| 19. | Koscielny | Marseille | He’s just had enough and needs to leave. |
| Update | Matt Macey | Untold’s own speculation was he didn’t go to Oz, and is too old to be the 4th keeper in the club next season but then Martinez went on loan, so he’s staying. Our one transfer out speculation, and it went wrong | |
| NEW | Emiliano Martínez | Getafe | One year loan. It was not predicted anywhere. |
| NEW | Stephy Mavididi | Preston | Loan |
| Released | Savvas Mourgos | No details,but he has been released. | |
| Released | Stefan O’Connor | Newcastle | Not predicted anywhere |
| 25 | Ospina | Fenerbahce | Some are just saying “to Turkey”, but since Martinez loan, keeper talk has all gone quiet |
| Update | Oxlade Chamb | Liverpool! or Chelsea | Chelsea is said to be making a final push but Sky says no chance of the deal going through |
| 27 | Özil | Real Mad | They realise they should have kept him. Mr Wenger says, he is staying. |
| Update | Lucas Perez | PSG, Deportivo La Coruna, Fenerbahce, Newcastle | He’s an “outcast” according to “reports”. He didn’t go to Oz, but it is said that the proposed deal in Spain has broken down. Mail says Spain is back on for £12m. Newc now the real deal. |
| NEW | Reine-Adelaide | Nice | The Short Fuse: Arsene Wenger, for reasons unknown, “doesn’t want” Reine-Adelaide at the club any longer |
| 30 | Sanogo | Released | |
| 31 | Santi Caz | Not so much that he is going but that Arsenal must send him packing – until suddenly he posted pics of himself in the gym and said he was doing double training. Surely those early stories about “never play again” can’t just have been made up can they? | |
| Completed | Wojciech Szczesny | Napoli or Juventus | Every newspaper seems to have this one. He doesn’t want to be here. Yes he does, the club doesn’t want him. £10m deal about to be done with Juve. |
| Completed | Nathan Tella | Southampton | Deal done and completed – he was released |
| 34.1 | Theo Walcott | West Ham | Ray Wilkins says he must leave to protect his career. Daily Star says he is going to West Ham. |
| 34.2 | Theo | Newcastle | The 4th official says this is the transfer that will happen |
| 34.3 | Theo | Everton | £30m on the table, so we are told. Suddenly this old story is headlined “Sensational” in “The 4th official” blog |
| NEW | Danny Welbeck | Everton | Trouble is they have already bought two forwards |
| Completed | Chris Willock | Benfica | Arsenal wanted to keep him but he decided to join one of his brothers |
| Update | Jack Wilshere | Sampdoria, Palace | The Metro has this one and they are sure he’s off. Express says £6.2m offer rejected. No its Palace on loan (Mirror). Wenger says he needs to sit down with Jack. |
So there we are: 37 Arsenal players who are leaving. It’s a miracle we have anyone left.
Arsenal anniversaries for today appear here.
- The nine things we have learned this pre-season
- Shock horror: Alexis sneezes proving he will leave. Oh and he’s injured too.
- Alexis deal with PSG, the latest. And the list of players leaving Arsenal grows
From the Arsenal History Society
The players who launched Arsenal’s rebirth and Arsenal’s games in October 1913.
So much dross at club.and because the deluded/egoist has paid too much for them and pays too much in wages,club unable to shift! Which in turn gives him! ( not mentioning his name!) a ready excuse when most of this lot went missing last season ” we tried,But noone was available”? Remember it was our poorest season in years.(apart from fa cup) winning a cup seems most forget the embarrassing times again!
Somebody got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning?
I have a feeling we are in for a busy 3 weeks. With 6 players able to leave for free next summer and currently worth in excess of 150m. I’d be very surprised if we allow more than 2 or 3 players to see out their contracts. While Wilshire seems keen to stay, I think we might find buyers for Gibbs and Jenks, but equally they may decide to sit it out rather than take a cut in wages and get a better wage deal next summer than they would now. The club has put themselves in this position and the players and agents hold all the cards so I believe we will have to suck it up and sell for a lot less than we’d like. Then we get to the 3 more valuable players. Despite Wenger’s insistence, I do not believe for 1 second the club are about to let all that money walk out the door, it would be insane. That the club would agree to lose 50m and hold onto Alexis makes some kind of sense, but Ox and I’d say Ozil are a different matter. I firmly believe Ox will go and while if I had the choice I’d let Ozil go rather than Alexis, I can’t see anyone bidding for Ozil. Ultimately it will come down to how much the club is willing to lose. You’d hope that Wenger is being straight with the likes of Ox and telling him, you either sign or we have no choice but to sell you, same goes for Ozil.
The tittle tattle of the media aside, even Arsene concedes the squad is bloated. The squad listed on the Community shield booklet was unnecessary large at 41- only 25 medals were available.
The squad needs trimming.
Gunz, where are the days they protested that Wenger was too tight to pay them what they deserved and so they went away to other clubs who paid more….. Not that long ago… 😉 Oh well…
Chris Willock has a Brother (Matt) at ManU and Joe (with us).
So did he join an Imaginary brother at Benfica?
Goonermay68…….try Le Grove, they love whiners like you who bitch about exactly the opposite they were moaning about last week!