Arsenal are preparing to let go of two first-team players in the next few days, after Arsene Wenger all but confirmed their futures.
Both Kieran Gibbs and Lucas Perez will complete permanent transfers away from the Gunners once the pre-season is concluded at this weekend’s Emirates Cup.
Despite featuring on a number of occasions as bit-part players, Wenger made the bold call to leave Lucas and Gibbs out of his 25-man squad to play Benfica and Sevilla.
Neither one of the left-sided wingers are suffering from injury and were made to train separately from the team earlier this week as they look to conclude their departures.
Fresh Arsenal understand Lucas is set to re-join Deportivo for just over £10million after the La Liga side came in with a bid last week which was confirmed by his agent.
Rodrigo Fernandez confirmed that his client was waiting to hear back from Arsenal as to whether they will accept the offer, having made it clear he wants to leave this summer.
Arsenal know we want to go, that there are no opportunities here and within a year there is a World Cup.
Deportivo made an offer a week ago. It is a permanent deal and worth more than Nolito’s move to Sevilla (£7.9million).
Whilst Arsenal wave goodbye to a guy who’s been here for one year, it’ll be a lot harder to let go of Kieran Gibbs, a graduate of the academy he joined in 2004.
West Brom are leading the race to sign the defender but it appears Arsenal may need to lower their valuation slightly in order to get the deal done a bit quicker.
Wenger confirmed that negotiations are ongoing and a move could be completed as early as next week with Gibbs’ mind focused on a new club rather than the Emirates Cup.
Lucas and Gibbs’ heading off will knock a considerable amount off of the wage budget, which could help to fund a move for Thomas Lemar or Jean Michael Seri.
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