Arsenal boss Unai Emery wants as many as four new signings this summer and is prepared to sell Henrikh Mkhitaryan in order to free up the club’s enormous wage bill.
The Armenian moved to north London in January 2018 in a swap deal for Alexis Sanchez and, with no transfer fee involved, was handed a £180,000-a-week salary – making him one the club’s highest earners.
However, according to the Mirror, Emery believes those funds – as well as the £350,000-a-week Mesut Ozil is earning – could be better spent elsewhere.
Arsenal will have a modest transfer kitty of around £40m this summer if they fail to qualify for the Champions League, meaning they will need to sell players to fund the spending spree Emery is planning.
The Gunners will receive no fees for Aaron Ramsey, Petr Cech or Danny Welbeck, all of whom are expected to leave in the summer, but hope to find buyers for Mkhitaryan and Ozil.
Despite the club’s budget restrictions, Emery wants four new faces, with a left-sided winger and left-back his two priorities.
Celtic defender Kieran Tierney is on his radar, while he also wants a new central defender and central midfielder.
Cagliari midfielder Nicolo Barella is Arsenal’s top target to fill the midfield void left by Ramsey, though he will cost more than the club’s entire summer budget, with the north Londoners needing to sell to afford his £45m valuation.
Mohamed Elneny, Calum Chambers and Shkodran Mustafi are all also up for sale, having failed to impress Emery, while the Spanish coach will not be making Denis Suarez’s loan move permanent.
