Mikel Arteta has been urged to move on six players from his Arsenal squad by former player Alan Smith.
The Gunners showed their potential last term, running Manchester City closer than anyone which has led to renewed optimism in north London. Arsenal's impressive campaign also means they have returned to the Champions League after a lengthy period away.
Arteta has already bolstered his squad with the capture of Kai Havertz. Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber are set to follow, but several players must leave to balance the books with almost £200m spent on the aforementioned trio. Highly-rated youngster Folarin Balogun could pay the price as a result.
Despite his impressive loan spell in France the forward is below several names on the pecking order and could be forced elsewhere. Smith told Gambling Zone: "It is hard because he’s a few notches down the pecking order now, especially with Havertz coming into the squad.
"I think the management probably see Nketiah being further ahead of him at the moment, they are similar types of players, and the club must think that Nketiah is a little bit better than Balogun. From Balogun’s point of view, he will be thinking more about how much game time he’s going to get. Given that he doesn’t want to go back out on loan, he may have to leave the football club."
Several other players have failed to live up to the billing, meaning moving them on is a far easier decision. Nicolas Pepe remains the club's most expensive player in history but has never hit the heights expected whilst other young talents too haven't developed as planned.
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"Nicolas Pepe, I haven’t seen too much about him in the papers regarding a move," added Smith. "He was bought for far too much money, and it’d be great to recoup some of that because I don’t think Arteta is a massive fan. You can’t hang your hat on him. Players like (Nuno) Tavares and (Albert Sambi) Lokonga, promising youngsters, could move on. Arteta certainly does need to get two or three players off of the wage bill.
"Rob Holding has been linked with a move away. There’s not much potential for him to get into the team now. I think you’d be loathe to let him go because he just seems like such a good team player. Holding is great in the dressing room and he will always give it his all but he is probably a level below where you need to be for Arsenal. He may have to leave."
Kieran Tierney, signed from Celtic in 2019, has fallen down the pecking order and, despite being highly regarded in north London, is likely to head elsewhere to play regularly.
Smith said: "Kieran Tierney’s attitude is first class, but that kind of attacking left back bombing down the outside and getting crosses in doesn’t seem to be the way that Arteta wants to go. He likes to play with an inverted full-back. Defensively, one against one, he is better than Zinchenko. It looks like he might leave the club, which is a shame because the fans love him."
