Transfer: Arteta confirms Arsenal players will leave Emirates in January
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has confirmed that a number of the Gunners players will have to leave Emirates in the January transfer window.
Arteta said this on Thursday during his pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal’s away Premier League clash with West Brom on Saturday night.
The Spaniard believes Arsenal’s priority in the January transfer window is to reduce the number of players in the first-team squad.
The former Manchester City’s assistant coach signed the likes of Thomas Partey, Willian and Gabriel last summer but he was disturbed by Arsenal’s inability to trim down the wage bill.
“Well, we have a large squad. We knew that” Arteta said.
“A lot of things that should have happened in the summer we could not accomplish for different reasons. There are a lot of players that are going to go on loan. They are going to leave.
“That’s the priority at the moment because we cannot sustain the numbers that we have in certain positions.
“We are looking to do that. And then we will see if we have the right opportunities in the positions that we need some more help from. We are working with the club to try to address them.”
“We will decide whether this is with loans or buying players in relation to the opportunities we will have in the market.”
Meanwhile, the likes of Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis and Callum Chambers are all considered surplus to requirements at Arsenal, while the North London club are keen to loan out a number of talented youngsters.
