Top-5 players who should leave Arsenal

SillySeason look into five players that should leave the Emirates Stadium

With the transfer window officially open now, business between clubs is set to increase with players going all over the place, and today, SillySeason are going to focus on potential departures from Arsenal.

Yesterday we looked at five players that need to leave Chelsea this summer, and today we are going to focus on their London rivals, The Gunners.

The North London outfit announced that Abou Diaby has left the club on a free after they decided against renewing the Frenchman’s contract due to injury concerns.

Diaby would have been one name on our list to leave Arsenal, but as it’s already been confirmed, we’ve had to do a late swap into our list.

So without further ado, lets look into five players that should leave Arsene Wenger‘s side this summer.

5) Tomas Rosicky

Starting the list is quite a controversial pick because he’s a fan favourite at the Emirates, but he simply won’t get game-time next season.

Tomas Rosicky is one of Arsenal‘s longest serving players, and that is why he is so loved in the red-side of North London, however, for his own career, he needs to move on.

Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can all play in the central attacking midfield role and are all considered ahead of Rosicky in the pecking order.

The Czech international has admitted last season that he’s frustrated with the game-time at Arsenal and has revealed his anger at his current situation.

However, Arsenal decided to extend his contract by an extra-year, which was a clause in his contract, meaning he will likely stay put at the club for another season.

Although he is likely to stay put, Rosicky for himself should be seeking an exit in order to play regular first-team football elsewhere.

4) David Ospina

With Petr Cech arriving, a goalkeeper at Arsenal needs to be sacrificed and it looks like it will be David Ospina.

The Colombian arrived at the Emirates Stadium last summer after agreeing to leave Nice, and despite breaking into the starting XI over the New Year, he’s looking likely to depart the club.

Arsene Wenger will choose between Wojciech Szczesny and Ospina, but it’s reported that the latter will get the cut with Fenerbache and Marseille interested.

Ospina broke into the first-team in January, and stayed there until the end of the season, after Szczesny had a howler against Southampton on New Years Day.

However, he still hasn’t done enough to persuade Wenger it seems and he could be set for a swift exit from the Emirates Stadium.

3) Joel Campbell

The Costa Rican international was expected to have a massive breakthrough season this year, but eventually ended up being loaned out to Villarreal in January as part of the Gabriel Paulista deal.

Campbell was superb for Olympiakos during the 2013/2014 campaign, scoring a wonder-goal against Manchester United in the Champions League, and then continued his form over the World Cup in Brazil for Costa Rica.

The mood around Arsenal was one of excitement for Campbell and after scoring in the Emirates Cup, they were ready to see his breakthrough campaign.

However, after a dismal performance against Southampton in the Capital One Cup, the winger wasn’t given another chance and was then loaned out to Villarreal.

With an abundance of options down the wing at Arsenal, for his own sake, Campbell needs a move away from the club

2) Lukas Podolski

Similar to the fifth option earlier on, Lukas Podolski is a fan favourite at Arsenal, but he simply isn’t good enough it seems.

Despite only being at the club for three years, the German international has become a fan favourite at the Emirates Stadium, but mainly for his off-the-field antics and his use of social networking site Twitter.

Sadly for the fans, Podolski couldn’t make a massive impact on the pitch, despite his ruthlessness in front of goal and his power shots, and he was eventually sent out on loan to Inter Milan.

Having failed to impress in Italy, the forward is looking set for a move to Turkey with Galatasaray after he was pictured arriving in the country yesterday.

1) Mathieu Flamini

He came back to Arsenal because he had ‘unfinished business’, and has since been part of two FA Cup winning teams, but sadly, it’s time for Flamini to depart again.

After Francis Coquelin‘s emergence last season and a new centre-midfielder expected to be signed, Flamini’s game-time next season will be all-but nothing, with Mikel Arteta expected to be back fit as well.

The Frenchman left to join AC Milan after his contract expired during his first stint in North London, but after training with Arsenal during a pre-season, Arsene Wenger then decided to bring him back to the club on a free.

During his debut season, he actually looked alright and gave Arsenal the fight and passion they missed in the centre of the park.

However, second season wasn’t so good and he was at fault for several goals.

So there are our five players to leave Arsenal this summer.

What are your thoughts?

Comment below!

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt