Arsenal confirm eight players leaving days after Champions League agony vs PSG | Football | Sport
Arsenal have confirmed several player exits (Image: Getty Images)
Arsenal have announced that eight men’s players are set to depart the club this summer, with a further seven players also leaving the women’s team. Mikel Arteta‘s side were defeated by PSG on penalties in the Champions League final last weekend. The Gunners ended their 22-year wait for a Premier League crown, and no first-team regulars will be shown the door at the Emirates Stadium this summer, while eight youngsters will exit when their contracts expire.
Piero Hincapie remains the only senior figure whose immediate future is still unresolved. The Gunners hold an option to buy the Ecuador international for a reported £45million this summer, having struck an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen last summer. Sam Chapman, Harrison Dudziak, Seb Ferdinand, Cam’ron Ismail, Will Lannin-Sweet, Josh Nichols, Samuel Onyekachukwu and Alexei Rojas-Federushchenko will all be moving on from the club.
In an official club statement, Arsenal said: “We thank all the players leaving us for their contributions to the club. You will always be part of the Arsenal Family, and we wish you all the best of health and happiness in your futures.
“Any further developments regarding players extending their contracts, as well as joining/re-joining, or leaving us, will be officially communicated when confirmed.”
Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard, Christian Norgaard and Gabriel Martinelli’s contracts run until 2027, and the club are anticipated to offload some of those players this summer, though they hold an option for an additional year in the latter pair’s deals.
Jakub Kiwior will depart this summer but does not feature on the list, following an agreement struck with Porto after this season’s loan spell.
Arteta has already set the tone for Arsenal’s transfer chiefs ahead of the summer window, urging the board to be ‘very ambitious.’
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Piero Hincapie is expected to join Arsenal permanently (Image: Getty)
Speaking following the defeat to PSG in the Champions League final, Arteta said: “It is very tough to accept when you are so consistent all the way to the final, and in the end you lose the trophy on penalties.
“We need to do better, we have to improve and we have to find different margins to get the outcome we want. First of all, I will take a few days with my family and then we will start the process to review what we have done.
“We will have to start making some very important decisions if we want to reach another level. We are going to have to show that ambition because we are more than capable of doing it, but it is going to demand us to be very ambitious, very fast and very smart.”
There are also several high-profile departures from the Women’s team this summer, with Katie McCabe, Beth Mead, Manuela Zinsberger, Laia Codina, Victoria Pelova, Barbora Votikova and Naomi Williams all set to leave.
Two of the club’s most celebrated figures, Mead and McCabe, will depart after distinguished spells at the club. McCabe is set to join Chelsea ahead of the new season, while Mead has been linked with a switch to Manchester City, where she could be reunited with former Gunner Vivianne Miedema.
