If Arsenal Need to Raise a £100M Transfer Kitty, Who Should They Sell?

Arsenal are likely to have to reshape their squad this summer. As yet, we don't know the identity of the manager for next season, but whether it's Arsene Wenger or a new man, the Gunners boss will have a huge job on his hands.

Once again, Arsenal have endured a disappointing campaign. Although they're still in with a shot of landing a third FA Cup in four years, they sit outside of the qualification places for the Champions League and have failed to mount a serious challenge for silverware in either Europe or the Premier League. 

That calls for a dramatic rethink. Even if Wenger remains in charge, Arsenal need to evolve and discover a new playing identity. That transition is likely to require several changes in personnel—and that costs money.

Arsenal are not short of cash—if anything, their spending has been too conservative considering their vast resources. According to John Cross of the Mirror, the Gunners are prepared to back their manager with £100 million to use in the transfer market. Cross claims the Gunners are plotting raids for some of Europe's most exciting attacking talent:

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Arsenal have already drawn up a list of transfer targets, with Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, Monaco sensation Kylian Mbappe, Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus and Celtic's Moussa Dembele among their targets up front.

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The Gunners have that money in their bank right now. However, what if owner Stan Kroenke insisted on tightening the purse strings in the summer? After all, Arsenal spent the best part of £90 million last summer without experiencing a particularly positive return. 

The question we're asking at Bleacher Report is this: If Arsenal had to raise their £100 million budget through player sales, who would be the right players to let go? We've managed to solve the problem by selling just three players, starting with the club's record signing.

1. The contract rebel: Mesut Ozil—£40 million

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It feels as if Mesut Ozil's time with Arsenal is approaching a close. His contract with the club runs until 2018, but talk of a potential extension has all but evaporated in recent months. In a recent interview with beIN Sports (h/t the Guardian), Wenger said talks with Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were now on hold until the summer:

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At the moment we have not got an agreement. We have decided to focus on the end of the season and talk about it in the summer. It is the same situation with Ozil because once you don't find an agreement and it [the negotiation] lasts, it is not good so it is better you get it out and sit down in the summer.

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That delay feels perilous for Arsenal. If Alexis and Ozil were happy to remain at the club, surely they would have signed by now.

Of course, if they choose not to sign, Arsenal are not obliged to sell the pair. They can instead opt to hold them to their existing agreements, keeping them for a further 12 months before allowing them to leave on a free transfer. In the case of Alexis, that might be the most prudent option—Arsenal are unlikely to find a striker of that calibre any time soon.

Ozil has become more dispensable. While he remains one of the most gifted players to have graced the Emirates turf, he is beginning to look like a footballing luxury that Arsenal can ill afford. Playing Ozil as No. 10 means that Arsenal's deep-lying midfield pair are often overrun—in recent weeks, Wenger has experimented with a more solid 4-3-3 system.

This summer potentially presents the last opportunity to extract some financial value from Ozil. He cost a club-record £42.5 million when he joined the club, and the Gunners would hope to recoup the vast majority of that sum. Moreover, in tactical terms, he could also prove to be a worthwhile sacrifice. 

2. The square peg: Aaron Ramsey—£40 million

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When Aaron Ramsey starred at last summer's European Championship, Arsenal fans must have been salivating at the prospect of him returning to the heart of the Gunners midfield. However, this season has been a major disappointment for the Welshman, who has been unable to recreate his sparkling international form with his club side.

His biggest problem has been his inability to nail down a regular role in the Arsenal team. Over the last few years, he has operated as a wide player, No. 10 and deep-lying midfielder. It's the last of those roles in which he looks more comfortable, but he has thus far failed to strike up a cohesive partnership with any of Wenger's other midfield options.

The recent shift to a 4-3-3 system offers a measure of hope for Ramsey—after all, it enables him to play a free-roaming role more akin to the one he plays for Wales. However, if the club are intent on restructuring the midfield, they might decide they're better off cutting ties with Ramsey and starting again from scratch.

In his piece about Arsenal's summer transfer plans, John Cross suggested that Ramsey could be "sacrificed" to facilitate the rebuilding. If they did let him go, there would surely be no shortage of suitors—and he'd fetch a significant fee. Back in 2014, Alan Shearer told the BBC he believed Ramsey was worth £40 million. His form has fluctuated since then, but that sounds about right.

3. The unfulfilled talent: Jack Wilshere—£20 million

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Last summer, Jack Wilshere was sent on loan to Bournemouth with the intention that he would return to Arsenal a rehabilitated player.

In fitness terms, the move has been a success. Wilshere has avoided major injury for the entirety of the campaign and has got some invaluable game time under his belt.

However, he has hardly set the world alight on the south coast. He was left out of Gareth Southgate's most recent England squad and has not starred for Eddie Howe's side as you might expect. In the course of the Premier League season, he has not scored a single goal and has recorded just two assists. Playing in an advanced role as a No. 10, that's a poor record.

Wilshere sounds unsure of what his future might hold. He told Sky Sports:

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My main focus at the minute is on playing for Bournemouth, getting them out of the position they're in and back to winning ways.

I'm concentrating on the next three or four months and then I'm not sure what's going to happen.

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Wilshere came through the Arsenal academy, and the club might be loath to lose a home-grown player. However, the Gunners haven't noticeably missed Wilshere this term. The best thing for both player and club might now be a permanent parting of the ways.

There we have it, £100 million banked for a summer spree. The question that still needs answering: Who will be charged with spending it?

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2016/17.