Clrnc Also don't understand the people who want to sell Zinny or whoever.
It's not rocket science. It's so that the likes of Skelly can come through, so that a player of Zinchenko's quality is certain to play wherever he goes, and so that we have a bit of cash on hand to sign players in areas where we don't have four contenders.
A chief reason Arsenal has rarely done well on sales in recent seasons is that we don't ship these guys out until they've been sidelined for at least six months to a year. As Tierney was. As Smith Rowe and Nelson will be by summer. Their names don't even sound so impressive because (subject to all the usual variations and debate) we let them languish until that point.
Also, nothing specific against Zinchenko. He is a fine player among one of the best defensive line-ups Arsenal's had. We could transfer Kiwior, but then he's also been playing very well of late. But whoever's deemed less likely to start by Arteta has to be at least considered for sale.
Timber on the other hand … if he's recovered well and his body is solid, we should definitely hold onto him because he's still a question mark.
One countervailing factor is the expanding European fixture list next season.
