Charlie Nicholas believes Arsenal may need to sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette

Posted Monday, December 23, 2019 by fourfourtwo.com

Former Arsenal forward Charlie Nicholas believes his old club may need to sell some of their star players to raise funds for the transfer market.

The Gunners appointed Mikel Arteta as their new full-time manager on Friday, before being held to a goalless draw by Everton at Goodison Park.

Arsenal currently find themselves down in 11th place in the Premier League table as the midway point of the campaign approaches.

And Nicholas thinks Arteta will need to conduct a major squad overhaul to get Arsenal back into the Champions League.

"Defensively, in midfield, in attack – [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang's all over the place, [Alexandre] Lacazette doesn't get a game and feels unloved – he might have to sell them to get some money in," he told Sky Sports.

"The other issues, the big ones, are the leadership issues that he has to take on. Does [Mesut] Ozil fit? No, well he can go. [Granit] Xhaka? There is interest from Hertha Berlin, you can go because what you did would not suit what I want. There are many big decisions to make.

"It's easy to say get rid of six or seven players but they aren't ready to replace them yet, so that's the hard part.

"But the first thing he must do is walk in the dressing room and say 'here's my rules, here's the way I'm doing things, I'm leading this football team now so get on board or move on'.

"It's as basic as that for Arsenal to start the proceedings. It's not easy, with the state Arsenal are in nothing is easy. Forget about style, because they don't have a style, he needs to go in there and sort the issues."

Arteta will take charge of his first game as Arsenal boss at Bournemouth on Boxing Day, before a vital meeting with Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium next weekend.