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Arsenal manager Unai Emery will have to cut the wage bill if he is to bring in the reinforcements he requires, per the Daily Mirror.
The Gunners are expected to trim and reshape the squad this summer, albeit with a limited budget.
What’s the word?
The Mirror report claims that Emery will be handed a transfer budget of £40million this summer.
The former PSG manager wants to sign a winger and a midfielder, the report claims, with AFC Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser topping the list for the former.
Arsenal will of course also need a replacement for Aaron Ramsey, with his transfer to Juventus looming large.
Emery is said to want to strengthen his defence as well but players will have to leave the club for that to become a possibility.
The wage bill has to come under control, with Mesut Ozil earning £350,000-per-week, according to the Daily Mail, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan collecting near to £200,000-per-week.
The mess he inherited
The size of the job Emery has inherited is laid bare by this report.
Arsenal used to be able to pay the sums required to sign the likes of Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Indeed, Aubameyang only moved to the club last year, in a deal worth £56m.
Now, it appears that Emery will have to balance the books before being able to sign any decent players, with poor financial decisions coming back to haunt the Spaniard.
The fact of the matter is that Arsenal need a number of reinforcements this summer if they are to remain competitive in the Premier League and in Europe, particularly if they qualify for the Champions League.
That Emery needs to sell players in order to make this happen only serves as a damning indictment on the board, on the club’s decisions to hand inflated contracts to undeserving players, and to the legacy left by former boss Arsene Wenger.
