Mikel Arteta is ready to sell £160m worth of talent to bring in two new Arsenal signings; while Liverpool are plotting a huge new deal for Virgil Van Dijk, according to Friday’s Paper Talk.
Arsenal could receive around £160m if Mikel Arteta decides to offload Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a string of other players to fund moves for two top stars.
The Gunners saw of their hopes of securing Champions League football next season take a huge hit after they crashed out of the Europa League to Olympiakos on Thursday night.
That meaans only a top-four finish (top-five if Man City fail to overturn their European ban) will see them play in Europe’s premier competition and could prompt a fire-sale if they don’t get there.
According to football.london, Arteta could receive a significant cash windfall if he starts offloading players at the end of the season.
Aubameyang is Arsenal’s main asset, but the striker is out of contract in 2021 and Barcelona retain a long-running interest in the experienced £80m plus-rated Gabon international.
The report adds, with very specific figures, that Shkodran Mustafi might be available in the summer for around £13.5m, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos could fetch a fee of around £16.2 million.
Sead Kolasinac’s place in the first-team is also now under threat following the emergence of youngster Bukayo Saka, while Mohamed Elneny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who both out on loan at Besiktas and Roma respectively – also look to have no future at the club. (AFP)
