The players who need to leave Arsenal this summer

How do you solve a problem like Arsenal?

It seems like a lifetime ago that Gunners fans were having a meltdown after only qualifying for the Europa League under Arsene Wenger.

Since the Frenchman’s departure we’ve witnessed the slow decline of one of England’s great clubs and their defeat in the Europa League semi-final to Villarreal has them staring down the barrel of a first season without European football for 25 years.

Whether it’s Mikel Arteta who takes charge of the club next season or there’s a new man at the helm, this summer represents a huge period in the history of the football club as they look to prevent themselves slipping further behind the Premier League’s top teams.

Some quality additions are needed, though before that the Gunners need to concentrate on shifting the deadwood and 90min has picked out eight players the club have to move on at the end of the season.

Just because a player is linked with Barcelona it doesn’t mean they’re any good.

Hector Bellerin has managed to hide a lot of his defensive frailties with his blistering pace since becoming a regular in the Arsenal side, though the truth of the matter is he’s not good enough for a team looking to compete for a place in the Champions League.

The Spanish right-back couldn’t have looked more disinterested in his side’s second-leg defeat to Villarreal, and with the club reportedly monitoring exciting Norwich youngster Max Aarons it’s time for Bellerin to move on.

Alright, so he’s not even technically an Arsenal player but we have to talk about Dani Ceballos.

The Spaniard has shown brief glimpses of what a brilliant player he can be, though ‘brief’ in this instance means about once every 15 games.

We’ve lost count of the amount of times we’ve said ‘oh Ceballos was playing’ as he trudges towards the sidelines to be replaced midway through the second half.

Arsenal’s side is sorely lacking leaders and they can’t afford to be carrying passengers who only turn up a couple of times a season.

Don’t worry we were conned into it to; German goalkeeper = probably quite good. How wrong we were.

Bernd Leno has been a liability this season and the reports that he’s understood to want out are quite frankly laughable given how bad he’s been at times.

The Gunners’ goalkeeping plight is made even more painful when you consider how well some of the shot-stoppers to have left the club are doing, with Emiliano Martinez, Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczęsny all a significant upgrade on the former Bayer Leverkusen man.

It’s time to cash in while they can still recoup some of the £22.5m they paid for him.

Is David Luiz any good in goal? There’ll be none left at this rate.

Runar Alex Runarsson may not even make the matchday squad these days, but with Mat Ryan only on loan the Iceland international is likely to be back in the fold next season if he isn’t moved on – and that’s bad news.

Runarsson has proven he isn’t up to standard when given the opportunity since arriving at Arsenal last year, and even though he’s just a backup option he’s likely to be called upon at some point if he’s not sold.

Eddie Nketiah barely even looked to be Championship quality when he spent time on loan at Leeds, yet suddenly he was leading the line for ‘Champions League-chasing’ Arsenal earlier in the season.

Giving youngsters their chance is all well and good but, to put it bluntly, Nketiah doesn’t look cut out to be a top-half Premier League striker.

Again, he may only be a backup option but when Arsenal are chasing a game and they throw him on in the latter stages, he just doesn’t look up to the task.

Well this went well, didn’t it?

Remember the first game of the Premier League season when Willian was tearing Fulham apart and it looked to be a masterstroke? Nowadays the only place you’re likely to see him is on a missing persons ad.

Given his eye-watering wages it would take an absolute stroke of genius from the Gunners’ transfer team to tempt someone into taking him off their hands, but it’s got to be worth a go because he’s offering absolutely nothing to the club.

It says something that we’re seven players into this and Luiz’s name has only been mentioned to see if he can play in goal.

Rob Holding has never been a top-level Premier League defender and he never will be. Wenger gushed over the former Bolton man during his time at the club but it’s difficult to see why.

He’s simply not good enough and hasn’t developed as the club would have hoped over the last few seasons so it’s time to cut ties.

And yes, Luiz is staying put – what have Arsenal become?!

It’s difficult to understand what’s gone wrong for Lucas Torreira at Arsenal.

The former Sampdoria man looked a really good player before arriving at the Emirates Stadium, but for some reason he couldn’t get a run in the side and when he did he just looked off the pace.

The Uruguay international has been shipped out on loan to Atletico Madrid this season and has urged Arsenal to sanction a move to Boca Juniors for him in the summer.

The midfielder has even gone as far as to say he doesn’t want to play in England anymore and so it would be foolish of the club to keep hold of an unhappy player.