Ian Wright warns Arsenal that key player could push to leave in summer

Arsenal legend Ian Wright says the club have to ‘get it right’ in the summer transfer window (Picture: Getty)

Ian Wright has warned Arsenal bosses that key players like William Saliba could push to leave the club if they fail to recruit well in the summer transfer window.

Arsenal finished runners-up to Manchester City over the last two seasons in the Premier League and Mikel Arteta’s men require a spectacular collapse from Liverpool to restore any hope of a late title push this term.

Arteta confirmed there were plans in place to strengthen in January after injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka left the Gunners desperately thin on the ground in attack.

But the transfer deadline came and went without Arsenal bringing in any reinforcements and news that Kai Havertz would miss the remainder of the campaign came as a further blow to the north Londoners.

West Ham’s 1-0 victory at the Emirates at the weekend means Arsenal now trail Arne Slot’s Reds by 11 points in the table ahead of their trip to third-placed Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night.

Reflecting on the current state of affairs at Arsenal, Wright said he was unable to ‘comprehend’ how his former team had not managed to bring in a forward given their injury crisis.

‘What really worries me is as the injuries are starting to happen… Saka injury, Jesus injury, we’ve had [Martin] Odegaard injured. Everybody has been injured at some stage that we really needed. Saliba has been injured, Gabriel has been injured, Ben White is just coming back,’ the ex-Arsenal and England forward told the Wrighty’s House podcast.

Arsenal FC v West Ham United FC - Premier League — Real Madrid are plotting a move for Arsenal defender Saliba (Picture: Getty)

FBL-ENG-PR-ARSENAL-WEST HAM — Arteta’s men are now 11 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

‘I’m just thinking to myself that when the injuries started to happen, we didn’t do any great business in the summer, we didn’t do any business in January.

‘Are the people upstairs thinking, “Let’s not go hard now and wait for the summer”? Have they accepted that we’re not going to win this league? Because I can’t sit here and think that Mikel is happy right now. He cannot be.

‘Whether it’s sports science or not is a whole different story but he cannot be happy being this close with everything that’s happened to him this season, with the injuries, with the decisions.

‘How can we not make any signings in January? No striker that we’ve needed. I can’t comprehend it.’

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Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes and Saliba are all out of contract at Arsenal in 2027 and Wright fears the club could be faced with a similar predicament that Liverpool have with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

Recent reports emanating out of France claimed Real Madrid were closely monitoring Saliba’s contract situation and had identified the centre-back as their primary transfer target for the summer.

‘When you’re talking about renewals with certain players… Saka, Gabriel, Saliba… the way they’re moving now, I bet those renewals are all going to be slow,’ Wright added.

Arsenal Board the Team Flight for Dubai Training Camp — Gabriel and Saka are both out of contract in 2027 (Picture: Getty)

‘We’re going to have a situation maybe like Liverpool with Trent, Salah and Virgil.

‘If I’m one of these players… and their teams are going to be saying, “Let’s wait and see, we’ve got two years left so let’s wait and see who they get in the summer! I know the manager has signed again but let’s wait and see!”.

‘If they’re not going to get the kind of players that take us to the next step… look at Saliba. Real Madrid would take him tomorrow. Why not wait and see what’s going on in the summer to see the kind of players and calibre of player we’re signing?’

According to Wright, it’s ‘vitally important’ that Arsenal ‘get it right’ in terms of recruitment if they have serious ambitions of hanging on to the likes of Saliba for the long-term.

He continued: ‘This is what the people upstairs need to be careful of and I’m sure Mikel will have told them that because he’s probably got the same kind of ambition: if you’re not going to give me the kind of players I need, I’m not going to be able to keep the players I’ve got here that are our best players, who are now running down their contracts.

‘We haven’t even got into that conversation yet about these players. This summer and who comes is f***ing vitally important to these players.

‘There’s a lot going on right now that needs to be unpacked by these people upstairs and they better get it right. They better get it right.’