Arsenal let go of Serge Gnabry under Arsene Wenger and watched as the German international became one of the best players on the planet. Winning Champions Leagues and Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich, the German international has developed into a world-class talent.
With contract talks stalling with Bayern, many had hoped that Arsenal might take the chance to try and position themselves to bring the player back to the club. However, with no Champions League football, it is highly unlikely this will happen and as such the forward the Gunners are after instead is Leeds United’s Raphinha.
Arsenal have a number of players that have left to go on to great things. Donyell Malen, Yunus Musah and Ismael Bennacer are now playing at some of Europe’s biggest clubs worth serious money.
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However, Arsenal’s savviness in the market has only started to improve. Sell-on clauses and first refusals have not been a big part of the selling process, but Edu has begun to change that.
Dinos Mavropanos has seen a sell-on clause inserted into his deal that sees him move to Stuttgart whilst Joe Willock’s big-money move to Newcastle also came with a sell-on included. Any potential Serge Gnabry move from Bayern is sure to grant the club a huge cash injection besides a free switch.
However, unless it is the Gunners to pay it, Arsenal will not get anything but more regret over his exit. These steps Edu is taking however appear to be getting even more forward-thinking so as to not have such painful history in the market repeat itself.
Daniel Ballard is expected to move on this summer and according to The Athletic, the club has entered advanced talks with Burnley over a potential deal. Despite the fee expected to be relatively low, this is partly due to a clause Edu has worked into the contract.
Arsenal would be able to match any future bids for Ballard should they come along with the Northern Ireland international having the opportunity to return. Whilst this is no guarantee he could come back, it would prevent the Gunners from seeing the 22-year-old defender slip away without first being notified.
Serious work long-term needs to be taken to continue to overhaul the reputation of the club in the sales department. The consistent cancelling of contracts and failure to recoup any of the transfer fees paid for players left the north London side to accrue a huge loss tally from former investment.
With a summer where plenty of players could be sold, this needs to be addressed. Pablo Mari, Nicolas Pepe, Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Reiss Nelson, Bernd Leno, Alex Runarsson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles are all unlikely to be at the club next year.
Edu, along with his increasingly large group of staff must get the best deals for the club. It could result in Mikel Arteta having even more money to play with for potential incomings this summer.
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