Qwiss! wrote:
Klaus wrote:
The problem is that we tried it this summer and we couldn't move them
Did we though? I mean we tried to get rid of Giroud but I haven't heard any reports of us trying to move on the other 3. People seem to assume we are always trying to sell Walcott but I don't think its true at all.
I'm not sure about those three specifically but Ornstein said that we had tried hard to offload players all summer. We couldn't do it because they were on too much money.
Claudius wrote:
Klaus, then you have to do what we did with Gabriel and Gibbs. You sell these guys at £10m apiece. You're also getting rid of £4-5m of annual salary commitments at a time as you do this. Better than throwing your hands up in frustration and saying nobody will buy them at Chelsea prices. I want these guys off the books.
It's not that I disagree. I've been complaining for years about our bloated squad. But I think the club were taken back this summer by just how unwanted some of our players are. Arsenal have always seen player contracts as an investment. You know how Wenger speaks of retaining transfer value? And unfortunately it turned out that there's zero value in average players anymore.
This wouldn't necessarily have been the case if we sold them one or two years ago, but no one wants Jenkinson, Coquelin and Debuchy on high wages when there are wage bill limitations at play. This is the very reason we are trying to get rid of them. Now imagine West Ham and Watford trying to fit them into their squads.