Mkhitaryan exits in Emery’s overhaul
Midfielder’s Roma loan is 11th major departure Arsenal have reduced average age and wage bill
The dramatic overhaul of Arsenal’s squad continued on the final day of the European transfer window as AS Roma agreed to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan on a season-long loan.
The Armenian became the 11th senior player to leave Arsenal this summer after the post-arsene Wenger revolution picked up pace at the end of Unai Emery’s first season as head coach.
Mkhitaryan, 30, was the third senior player to leave in just three days, following Nacho Monreal and Mohamed Elneny out of the door as Arsenal have instead turned to younger players with greater longterm value. Roma will pay a small fee for Mkhitaryan and, crucially for Arsenal, the Italian side will cover the costs of his £200,000per-week wages this season. There is no obligation on the Italian club to buy the player permanently at the end of the campaign.
Arsenal were hopeful that unwanted defender Shkodran Mustafi would also leave, but it is understood that a concrete, credible offer for the German never materialised. Emery will now have to decide whether to reintegrate Mustafi in the first team or use him primarily alongside younger players in the cup competitions. The 27-year-old has not even made the substitutes’ bench in any of Arsenal’s four Premier League fixtures this season after falling behind Calum Chambers in the defensive pecking order. Emery has made it clear, privately and publicly, that the centreback should leave north London. Mkhitaryan joined Arsenal in January 2018 as part of a swap deal with Manchester United in which Alexis Sanchez moved to Old Trafford. Arsenal hope that his move to Rome will provide more opportunities for some of the talented young attackers who have impressed behind the scenes. Gabriel Martinelli, the Brazilian teenager who joined this summer, is now set to be more heavily involved in Emery’s first team, and there is hope that Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka will continue to develop.
There are also high expectations for Joe Willock, an academy graduate, and 20-year-old midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, who was yesterday called into the France senior squad for the first time, replacing the injured Paul Pogba. The exits of Monreal (to Real Sociedad), Elneny (on loan to Besiktas) and Mkhitaryan mark the latest steps in Arsenal’s attempts to refresh their squad with younger players and reduce a wage bill that had risen to worryingly high levels.
Arsenal’s failure to qualify for the Champions League in three consecutive seasons has placed further strain on their finances. Josh Kroenke, the son of owner Stan Kroenke, has said that Arsenal have a “Champions League wage bill on a Europa League budget”.
Aaron Ramsey, Petr Cech and Danny Welbeck all departed this summer, while Arsenal sold club captain Laurent Koscielny to Bordeaux after the Frenchman refused to attend the pre-season tour of the United States. The various sales, as well as the removal of high-earning players such as Welbeck and Ramsey, has allowed Arsenal to reinvest considerable funds into the playing squad, with the £72 million clubrecord move for Nicolas Pepe proving to be one of the most eye-catching deals in Europe.
If all instalments are met on their sales this summer, Arsenal will have generated around £65million in transfer fees and sell-on clauses during the window. The majority of the players who have left are those who were coming towards the end of their careers, with Alex Iwobi proving the exception after joining Everton for a fee that could rise to £34 million. The average age of the first-team players to have left is 30, although younger players have also been sold, such as 21-year-old Krystian Bielik, who joined Derby County for a fee that could rise to £9.5million, and 18-year-old Xavier Amaechi, who left for Hamburg for £2.25 million.
By contrast, the average age of Arsenal’s new signings is 23. David Luiz, the £8million purchase from Chelsea, is the only arrival who is older than 24.
If all clauses are met on the agreed transfer fees, many of which will be paid in instalments over the coming years, Arsenal will have committed £139 million on fresh players this summer. That figure includes the £27 million deal for French centre-back William Saliba, who has returned to St-etienne on loan this season.