Mikel Arteta is adamant that Arsenal must ‘100 per cent’ stop their recent transfer trend of releasing out-of-favour players from their contracts, via quotes by the Evening Standard.
The Gunners have now mutually terminated five players’ deals in the last 12-months after freeing Sead Kolasinac to join Marseille. The Bosnian followed Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi, who left last January, and Willian, who exited in August.
Ozil had six-months left on his £350k-a-week contract when he left north London. Yet, per The Athletic, Arsenal continued to pay over 90% of his salary, despite joining Fenerbache.
Willian also enjoyed a lucrative contract during the winger’s one-year stint at the Emirates Stadium last season. But the Brazilian agreed to forgo the final two-years of his £240k-a/w deal to join Corinthians, per Sky Sports. He also did not ask for a pay-off to leave the club.
Kolasinac had fallen into a similar situation at Arsenal to Ozil in the German’s final months. Arteta had only fielded the full-back five times in all competitions this term, starting three, before joining Marseille. He had also only played one Premier League minute since August.
Arteta adamant Arsenal must stop terminating contracts
Arsenal and Kolasinac, therefore, agreed to terminate the final six-months of his £100k-a/w contract for a free transfer to Marseille. But Arteta is adamant the north Londoners cannot maintain their recent trend of tearing deals up once high-earning stars fall out of favour.
“100 per cent,” he said. “We don’t want to allow our players to terminate the contract in the last year when they are not playing. 100 per cent. And what we are trying to build, and the squad we are trying to assemble, is going to be looking completely different, hopefully.
“The contract situation we had with some of the players were putting the club in a really difficult position. Because the longer we leave them with months to finish their deals and with players that were not playing a lot of minutes, obviously the situation is not ideal.
“And then it becomes in the interests of the player and club to finalise it in the best possible way. So, everybody can terminate their obligation in the best possible way.”
Kolasinac has penned an 18-month deal with Marseille and could make his debut when OM visit Lens this Saturday. The 28-year-old won an FA Cup and two Community Shields during five-years in north London. Kolasinac joined Arsenal in a free transfer from Schalke in 2017.
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