10 Arsenal Players with Points to Prove in Pre-Season
Arsenal’s first-team squad returned to training on Tuesday. Over the coming weeks, the players will look to show manager Arsene Wenger what they can offer ahead of the new campaign.
At Arsenal’s London Colney training complex, there’s an unusually high number of people with something to prove. In this piece, we identify 10 men who will be determined to make an impact between now and the Gunners' first game of the season on August 14.
Theo Walcott
1 of 10
Last season, Theo Walcott did not start a single Premier League game after Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on February 28. Wenger appeared to rapidly lose faith in the experiment to convert him into a striker, and by the end of the season, Walcott appeared surplus to requirements.
The door may still be open to him because of the injury to Danny Welbeck. With the former Manchester United man expected to miss the majority of next season with a cartilage problem, Wenger may be loath to dispense with another pacy forward.
Nevertheless, Walcott still has plenty prove. Arsenal need a new goalscorer to supplement Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, but Walcott has offered little to suggest it could be him.
Kieran Gibbs
2 of 10
Last season, Kieran Gibbs was comprehensively beaten in the battle to be Arsenal’s first-choice left-back. Nacho Monreal's consistency and quality relegated him to second choice, and he was restricted to just three Premier League starts. Remarkably, only one of those came in his preferred position as a left-back.
Having recommenced first-team training, Gibbs will have to prove to his manager he is still capable of ousting Monreal. Although his development appears to have stalled of late, he is only 26—relatively young for a defender.
As a product of the Arsenal academy, Gibbs won’t want to let go of his place at Arsenal without a fight.
Yaya Sanogo
3 of 10
Yaya Sanogo endured a difficult 2015/16 campaign. A loan spell with Ajax was nothing short of a disaster, with the French forward sent back in January without a competitive goal to his name. He moved to Championship side Charlton Athletic, scoring a hat-trick in one game but failing to find the net in any other.
Arsene Wenger has always shown significant faith in Sanogo, throwing him into the first team at a young age despite his inexperience and rawness. However, it’s difficult to envisage him holding a place in next season’s squad. Sanogo must seize upon the opportunity to impress in pre-season if he wants to remain in Wenger’s plans for 2016/17.
Jack Wilshere
4 of 10
After spending the majority of 2015/16 on the sidelines, Jack Wilshere will have been delighted to have made Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2016. However, when he got onto the pitch in France, he looked some way short of the player Arsenal fans know he can be.
That’s understandable. Wilshere has barely strung together a run of games over the past few years, so a bit of ring rust is inevitable. However, with Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil due to return late after their exertions at the Euros, Arsenal could be counting on him come the start of the season.
Wilshere must show a dramatic improvement if he wants to thrive at the Premier League level in August. Friendly matches will be particularly important to him in building up his fitness.
David Ospina
5 of 10
David Ospina is facing questions over his future. Although he was briefly Arsenal’s No. 1 at the back end of the 2014/15 campaign, he found himself relegated to the bench by Petr Cech's arrival last summer.
The Colombian is an acclaimed international goalkeeper who will not be content with being a back-up. Besiktas' sporting director, Gokhan Keskin, recently told Turkish radio station Radyospor (h/t Mark Brus of Metro) that his club would like to sign Ospina. The question is whether Ospina’s pre-season showings will convince Wenger to give him the game time he craves.
Chuba Akpom
6 of 10
Arsenal’s need for a new striker is well-documented. The failed bid for Jamie Vardy has exacerbated that requirement, so perhaps young forward Chuba Akpom will sense an opportunity to stake his claim for a place.
He didn’t set the world alight during a loan spell with Hull City last season, but Akpom is highly thought of at the Emirates Stadium and a player of considerable talent. He has impressed in past pre-seasons and must replicate those performances if he wants to avoid being sent out on loan again.
Mathieu Debuchy
7 of 10
Mathieu Debuchy spent the second half of last season on loan with Bordeaux in an attempt to make France’s Euro 2016 squad. In the end, injury denied him that opportunity. He's back training with Arsenal, attempting to resurrect a Premier League career that had appeared over.
Arsenal need another right-back to provide competent cover for Hector Bellerin. If Debuchy is prepared to play that role, there is a place for him in the squad. However, he must knuckle down and produce better performances than he managed in the first half of 2015/16.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
8 of 10
Last season was yet another year of underachievement for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Injury and inconsistency derailed a campaign that started well. After the former Southampton man scored the winning goal in the Community Shield on the eve of the campaign, big things were expected of the gifted England international.
Unfortunately, the first Premier League fixture revealed some of the weaknesses in Oxlade-Chamberlain’s game. He carelessly conceded possession to gift West Ham United a goal in their 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium, and his form never recovered.
This pre-season, Oxlade-Chamberlain needs to step up. At 22, it’s time to deliver.
Wojciech Szczesny
9 of 10
After a season on loan at AS Roma, Wojciech Szczesny’s pre-season will decide where he plays his football in 2016/17.
Asked about his future, Szczesny told reporters after Poland's exit from Euro 2016: "I'd love to know. I really don't know. For now I was focused on the Euros, I tried to recover from my injury. Unfortunately, it didn't happen in time but now I have time to relax, for holidays and maybe think about my future."
Sooner rather than later, Szczesny will have to report to training at London Colney. How he fares upon his return could play a part in determining whether he remains at Arsenal next season. If he ends up staying, he will almost certainly have to accept playing second fiddle to Cech.
Serge Gnabry
10 of 10
Much like Sanogo, Serge Gnabry had a difficult time on loan last season. He moved to West Bromwich Albion, where he struggled to win manager Tony Pulis' faith. In January, he returned to north London, but he didn’t figure in the first team before the end of the campaign.
However, he impressed in several appearances with Arsenal’s U21 side. Although it feels as though Gnabry has been on the scene for some time, he is still only 20. If he can excel in pre-season, it could convince Wenger to make him part of his plans for the new season.
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