Arsenal may face a potential problem in the transfer market as some of their more sellable assets have lost value.
Arsenal have been poor at selling players over the years, with a lot of heavy investment signings walking away from the club for free.
Despite spending over £200m on Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette combined in the past, all four players ended up departing for free after their values plummeted.
Arsenal’s transfer success has improved dramatically under Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar’s transfer strategy, which sees them analyse targets in exceptional detail across a range of factors before they join, but there is one key problem with Arsenal’s recent strategy.
Arsenal selling strategy is costing them heavily
Despite success in terms of incomings, Arsenal are still struggling to sell, despite having several valuable assets who are set to leave.
Recent reports revealed that Newcastle have somewhat cooled their interest in Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, because of his £30m valuation.
This fee does not seem outrageous on the face of it. Arsenal brought Ramsdale in for a similar price three years ago, and he has dramatically improved since.
Arteta even handed him a new contract last summer, meaning his value is protected, but it now appears that they face making a loss on what should be a hugely valuable asset in a top-quality England International coming into his prime.
The reason why his value has dropped so much, is because he has now spent nearly an entire season on the bench as the second-choice option, which has devalued him in the eyes of the buyer quite significantly.
Arsenal do not sell players at the right time
Ramsdale is not the first player to lose their value after losing their place in the side. Left-back Kieran Tierney spent last season on loan at Real Sociedad, and his future is unclear given his injury problems.
Two years ago, Tierney was the first-choice left-back, and someone talked about as a potential captain. He was then replaced in the starting XI by Oleksandr Zinchenko, and as a result, his value dropped.
Emile Smith Rowe could also face a similar dilemma, with it expected that he leaves despite his outstanding talent, but again Arsenal may have to sell him for a lower fee than they would like, given that he has started just three league games in the last two seasons.
If Arsenal took the ruthless decisions to sell these players earlier, they would have earned a lot more money from them to reinvest in the squad. Devaluing players by axing them from the squad, like in the case of Aubameyang, or letting players stay on the bench all season like Ramsdale, does nothing to increase interest in them.
READ MORE: All Mikel Arteta signings at Arsenal ranked from worst to best
Choosing to keep, and extend Ramsdale’s contract before dropping him, rather than making what would have been a shock sale after he had an outstanding season, meant that Arsenal may have lost out on a potentially much higher fee, and avoided the drama that unfolded when he was dropped for David Raya.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
