Arsenal could offload three senior players in Olivier Giroud, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen this summer, FootballDirectNews.com understands.
The Gunners suffered another poor result on Tuesday evening as they drew 2-2 at home to Swansea City, seeing them go from title challengers to scrapping for fourth place in the space of a few days. Arsenal were also poor at the weekend as they were thrashed 6-0 by Chelsea, and it is now thought that major changes could be made to the squad in the upcoming summer transfer window. Some doubts remain over manager Arsene Wenger’s future at the club as well, but a club insider believes the Frenchman is unhappy with what Giroud and Arteta have brought to the team in recent times, while Vermaelen has been out of favour for a while.
The Belgian defender returned to the team for the Swansea game due to an injury to Laurent Koscielny, but failed to make the most of a rare appearance in the starting lineup with an unconvincing performance. Arteta was once thought of as one of the top midfielders in the Premier League at previous club Everton, though he joined Arsenal late in his career and now looks past his best at the age of 32. Giroud, meanwhile, has been affected by alleged personal problems of late, and has recently been linked with Italian giants Juventus. Watch Liverpool v Sunderland Wednesday night.