Arsenal have been inactive in the transfer market so far, but several clubs have made surprising deals heading into July.
A lot of clubs are struggling to meet profit and sustainability requirements, and in order to avoid points deductions, had to make sales before the end of June.
This saw several Premier League sides engage in several swap deals, with players bought and sold as separate transactions in order to balance their books.
Newcastle were in serious danger of breaking the rules and facing a points deduction, until they managed to make two highly profitable sales. Elliot Anderson moved to Nottingham Forest for £35m, and Yankuba Minteh moved to Brighton for £30m.
With Arsenal potentially set to sell homegrown trio Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, Edu Gaspar needs to look at the Newcastle sales for inspiration.
Emile Smith Rowe should have a higher valuation than Elliot Anderson
The potential sale of Smith Rowe will particularly hurt given his popularity amongst Arsenal fans, but given that he will count as pure profit in terms of PSR, it is perhaps the right time to part ways.
Arsenal have reportedly set an asking price of around £25m for Smith Rowe, £10m less than the fee for Anderson to move to Forest, and they should perhaps hold out for more.
Although a talented attacking midfielder, Anderson, who is two years younger than Smith Rowe, started 10 Premier League games last season, failing to score and assisting twice.
Smith Rowe was starved of game time, starting just three league games, but he registered the same number of assists.
The Arsenal ace is versatile enough to play several roles across the midfield and wings, and he has credit in the bank after an outstanding campaign two years ago.
Arsenal’s poor selling record
Smith Rowe leaving for a small fee would be another concerning sale under Edu Gaspar, with several players having their contracts terminated rather than moving directly elsewhere for free.
Edu should now take the example of Anderson leaving and use it in his own transfer strategy. This was a young player leaving whom they did not want rid of, but they reluctantly sold whilst his value was high.
Players such as Smith Rowe, and Aaron Ramsdale, have seen their values drop as their game time did. Arsenal did not sell when their values were high, and they are now continuing the frustration that clubs may bid significantly less than his own asking price.
Arsenal have rarely made a huge profit on a young or homegrown player, and this is something Edu needs to fix to reap huge benefits in the long run.
