Unai Emery ready to offload big-name Arsenal stars after receiving strict transfer budget

Unai Emery after collecting his runners up medal [Courtesy]

Unai Emery wants to launch a major summer rebuild after Arsenal’s Europa League Final disaster - but will have to do it on a strict budget.

Emery was desperate for the club to get back into the Champions League to give him the funds to help fund a major overhaul of his players.

Gunners boss Emery wants to completely shake up the squad and sees this summer as key to his entire time at Arsenal.

But Emery has been left with as little as £40m to spend on new players and must do it amid a difficult backdrop this summer.

Arsenal are set to bring in former midfielder Edu as their technical director but his arrival from Corinthians has been held up and therefore he cannot start working on their summer plans

Emery will also have to generate more cash by selling players with big names Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all potential casualties.

The biggest problem will be offloading them but Emery has had enough of under-performing players who do not fit into his style or philosophy which was highlighted in brutal fashion by the Europa League final humiliation to Chelsea.

The Arsenal manager was already uncertain about Ozil who is on £350,000-a-week but that only served to underline the problem but they could face having to subsidise his wages if they want to push through a loan or permanent deal with Inter Milan.

They could trim around £50m off the wage bill if they can shift all three and that would give them money to play with because the sky-high wage bill has become a chronic problem and a bigger obstacle to his plans than limited funds for new players.

Arsenal have a big squad with even fringe players on big money and that will curtail his plans this summer. They will save money on Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck who are leaving on free transfers but Ramsey’s departure now looks a costly disaster for Arsenal.

Arsenal want Bournemouth ’s highly-rated Ryan Fraser who has a year left on his contract but any ideas of a more ambitious move for Crystal Palace ’s Wilfried Zaha look dead in the water without Champions League cash.

They also want a box-to-box midfielder to replace Ramsey and a centre half to boss the defence but know that shifting Mustafi - who has two years left on his contract is an obstacle to any ins and outs.

Laurent Koscielny has one year left on his deal, wants an extension and could move if he does not get it which leaves Emery with a dilemma over his captain.

But Emery is desperate to get tough and rebuild and sees this summer as key to his long term plans at Arsenal and fears that unless he can overhaul the squad to inject more steel and winning experience then they will fall short again.