I think if we lose the final that makes the difference because the impact to our revenue streams is significant.
If we did sell one of them Laca's the one that'll generate the most cash. As epic as Auba is he's only got 2-3 seasons at the top left given he's so dependant on his speed. As you say Paul, Laca's all round game is incredible. 19ish goals and 17ish assists from memory, he's just what you need in a side trying to spread the goals around.
The key to this window for me is shifting both Mkhi and Ozil. They're on roughly 200 and 350 a week, which is a whopping $28.6m a year on our wage bill. Even if they both left of free transfers we'd have more room to work under FFP and it would probably enable us to keep Auba and Laca together.
The other dimension to all this is how that $40m figure is worked out. Is it based on player sales too, or just simply what powder we've kept dry from January?
Great points Valeo about the Liverpool sale of Coutinho. I think Arsenal fans are super anti it because we've watched it happen time and time again where we get ourselves a world class player only to sell them and re-invest in average players. Liverpool have done it better as they've managed to get bargains on guys like Firmino, Mane, and Salah as they'd never made it at the top tier. We've done the same and landed players like Sanogo, Perez, and Joel Campbell.
I don't think anyone knows exactly how much we have to spend yet; I would safely assume it's 'not a lot' considering the stories that came out about cost cutting a few months ago.
The difference between selling now and when we sold the likes of Cesc/Nasri etc is that we were selling to survive before. We now have solid foundations and not a whole lot of debt (comparatively) so we're now selling to buy - which puts us in a better position. Still reliant on a bit of luck and good work from whoever does the recruiting - but that's football.
Re; Ozil/Mkhi - Ozil won't go. We know that already. We've made our bed there and will need to lie in it until his contract runs out.
Mkhi is a possibility, but I don't think he'll go either.
The way I see it is there were 3 steps when Emery took over;
1. Consolidation (you could say we've probably done that with this season)
2. Rebuilding (this is the stage we're in now - this is a huge job)
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3. Compete for the title
To rebuild, you need to sell. Selling players that aren't desirable to other clubs is difficult - everyone wants to just sell the crap for big money and then get good players in, but it doesn't usually work like that.
The only players we currently have that other teams would buy and pay big money for (imo) are:
- Laca
- Auba
- Torreira
- Guendouzi and Xhaka (maybe)
I just don't know how we can successfully rebuild and fill the multitude of gaps without selling at least one of these players. Laca or Auba make the most sense because they both play the same position.
Laca/Auba are very good and basically create goals by themselves - but the problem this season has been that basically no one else has contributed except Ramsey, and he's going. A top team can't rely on two players for an entire season if they want to challenge. You need a functioning team, not a mess with two superstars.
Things to do for the rebuild;
Replace;
Kos and Monreal who could both be gone next season
Mustafi who is a calamity
Ramsey
Xhaka who will never be up to the speed of the prem (imo we need some more mobile and more suited to the modern EPL)
Sign/decide who will be our back-up GK now Cech is retiring
Sign a winger (or two..) or promote one internally (Nelson, Sako?)
Sign a backup striker to replace Welbeck or promote one (Nketiah's time? I don't think so personally)
That leaves a sharkload to do.