Arsenal Supporters Trust calls on star players to shape up or ship out as Gunners face decisive summer

Under pressure: Arsenal players ahead of last month's FA Cup tie at Sutton
AFP/Getty Images
James Benge2 March 2017

Arsenal players must either prove their worth or be swiftly moved on, the club’s supporters’ trust has demanded after another disappointing season for Arsene Wenger’s side.

The Gunners face elimination from the Champions League and are fourth in the Premier League, 13 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Wenger’s side face a potentially decisive summer with the future of the manager, whose contract expires at the end of the season, not the only issue of major important for the club.

Star duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are yet to sign extensions to contracts expiring next summer as they demand salaries of over £250,000-a-week whilst the ‘British Core’ including Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs could be dismantled. None of the three, whose deals are also up in 2018, have begun negotiations over new terms.

Yet a more cutthroat approach to the playing staff is just what the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust wish to see after a familiar season in which the promise of a title challenge has turned into a battle to retain top four status.

In a report into the club’s half year accounts from June to November 2016 produced by Simon Hill the AST said: “Last year we commented that Arsenal were now in a situation where they need to focus on winning trophies and being more successful with the resources in hand as this is the key driver to any future substantial growth in revenues outside of the Premier League TV deal and to retaining their stars.

“The pressure should very much be on the players to perform or to be moved on to generate revenues to be reinvested, much as Chelsea and [Manchester] United have done.

The Arsenal players with expiring contracts

1/5

“Last summer Arsenal spent big but have so far failed to see material on pitch benefits from their investment and now risk having some of their best players agitating to leave at a time of uncertainty as to whether the manager will continue or not.

“That in itself need not be something to fear as the past two seasons have shown new managers can sometimes get a lot more out of playing squads and budgets than their predecessors ([Antonio] Conte and [Mauricio] Pochettino most notably).”

The Supporters’ Trust’s analysis of Arsenal’s half-yearly results also noted that the club’s broadcast revenues had grown by over £100million in the last four years , with the Gunners expected to retain a cash surplus of around £120m, dependant on qualification for the Champions League.

The AST have long urged Arsenal to commit to ticket price freezes, which the club have done in nine of 13 years at the Emirates, and used the results to reaffirm their belief that there is “no need” for prices to rise.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in