Former Premier League striker Darren Bent has identified the first Arsenal player that new sporting director Andrea Berta will sell.
The Gunners are having another good season in the Premier League with two wins in their last two matches seeing them stay second in the table.
Arsenal are currently 12 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have lost one match all season, and it would take a huge collapse from Arne Slot’s men to allow the Gunners back into the title race.
Mikel Arteta’s side do have another chance of silverware this season in the Champions League with Arsenal drawing Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
But if they don’t succeed then they will have their poor injury record, and their failure to secure a top centre-forward, to blame for not winning something.
And they have started to prepare for the summer transfer window with the appointment of former Atletico Madrid technical director Berta as their new sporting director.
Off the back of the appointment, Arsenal boss Arteta promised a “big summer” in the transfer market as they look to revitalise their squad.
Arteta told a pre-match press conference: “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.
“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different.
“But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step.”
Arteta added on Berta: “I think Andrea is a big addition to the club, a big addition to the team, a team that is already formed with a lot of great people.
“Every summer is big because it is an opportunity and especially because of the number of players we have in the squad right now that is necessary.
“But it’s a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team.”
And Bent – who is a self-confessed Arsenal fan despite playing for Tottenham – insists that Berta will sell Gabriel Jesus first as he attempts to rebuild the squad.
Jesus has picked up multiple injuries since moving to Arsenal and the Brazil international has not provided enough goal contributions.
Bent told talkSPORT: “Gabriel Jesus. He’s got to go. Havertz stays. I think he will be the first to go, Gabriel Jesus. Because when I think of the left side, Trossard and Martinelli. Keep Trossard off the bench, but not as a starter; he plays too many minutes. You’ve got Trossard and Martinelli on the left.
“Centre-forward, you’ve got Havertz at the minute and Gabriel Jesus. Gabriel Jesus can go. On the right, you’ve got Saka and Nwaneri. It’s that centre-forward role, I think…”
