Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that the Gunners squad is ‘unsustainable’ after they beat Barcelona 5-3 in a pre-season friendly at the SoFi stadium on Thursday morning.
The north London side have brought in three new faces this summer already, with Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber all having arrived at the Emirates Stadium since the end of last season.
They are keen to add further reinforcements too, with a right-back and a right-winger on their wishlist before September’s transfer deadline.
However, they will have to shift players first, with Arteta admitting that his squad was currently too big and only Granit Xhaka having departed so far this summer.
“We have 30 players here which is unsustainable”, he explained. “But of course, the market is still open and things can happen”.
“We are ready, we are prepared”, the Spaniard added.
Arteta has already explained what he considers to be his ‘perfect’ squad size, and the Gunners will have to make plenty of sales to make that happen.
“If you can financially afford it and we don’t have to do the turnaround in the squad that we’ve had to do, if you ask me what I want it’s 22 outfield players and three goalkeepers,” he said last season.
Given that the likes of Pepe and Tavares were not even a part of the 30 man squad taken Stateside, a mass exodus is needed from north London before any more signings arrive this summer.
