In amongst the usual criticisms of the team this season, the board and now Arsene Wenger, I have seen little real analysis of the current playing squad and, in particular, the amount of ‘deadwood’ in the team.

(Note - For the purpose of this article, I am defining ‘deadwood’ as players who either do not want to play for the club, players that Wenger doesn’t want at the club anymore, and/or players who have been at the club for too long and who have no realistic aim of ever becoming established first team players).

I will highlight twelve players still at the club who I would happily accept the club giving free transfers to get their wages off of the wage bill. This will then allow the club to either replace by spending some money, or giving young players like Gnabry, Eisfield etc the opportunity to sit on the bench, gain some experience and, in my opinion, will be hungrier to impress when given the opportunity than the likes of the following.

Lukas Fabianski

There was a time when hopes were high for Lukas that he may force his way into the first team and prove himself to be a very good goalkeeper – even after a number of very poor displays (particularly against Spurs).

However, little has been seen or heard of the Pole for the past couple of seasons, as a result of Szczesny’s emergence and injury. 6 appearances in two seasons says it all and the club should cut their losses and move him on, to allow for Martinez to emerge.

I would consider signing a quality experienced keeper – even someone such as Paul Robinson – to replace Lukas for competition for Szczesny.

Tomas Rosicky

I like Rosicky. In his prime he was one of the best midfielders in Europe and I have his name on the back of my shirt this season. However, he seems perennially injured and, as with Diaby (below), cannot be trusted to stay fit for considerable lengths of time.

At the age of 32, time is not on his side and the club should consider any offer made for him.

Abou Diaby

A potentially fantastic player whose career has been hampered since the assault on him at Sunderland in 2006. As with Rosicky, he always seems to be injured and the club should cash in.

Andre Santos

He simply cannot defend to save his life. My under 18’s have better positional sense than Andre, and since his dreadful showing at Old Trafford earlier this season, the writing is on the wall. A move back to Turkey in January seems likely.

Sébastien Squillaci

Simply one of the worst defenders I have ever seen. He’s a million miles away from the first team and with our new shirt deal swelling our coffers still further, a free transfer to France in January seems the right time to quietly cut our losses .

Johan Djourou

I don’t have any real issue with Johan. He is a perfectly good defender but one who’s time at the club has never really got going. I could imagine several mid table Premier League clubs willing to sign him in January (he’d improve QPR) and with Per, Thomas and Koscielny in front of him, there is little chance of him breaking into the first team.

Andrey Arshavin

Oh what hopes we had for Andrey! The diminutive Russian was one of the players of the tournament at Euro 2008 but has, in the main, proved to be a real disappointment at Arsenal. Whether that’s because he’s forced to play left wing rather than ‘in the hole’ or his skill of running down blind alleys is a moot point, but he has no real future at the club and does not look hungry enough to force his way back into contention. S

Sell in January and reinvest – I’d happily take Wilfried Zaha to add a better option from the substitutes bench.

Marouane Chamakh

14 goals in 65 games for Arsenal, and he’s a striker. Simply not good enough and emblematic of Arsenal’s recent tendency to sign players for ‘value’ rather than any real quality. Despite a shortage up front, Chamakh still doesn’t get a look in and the sooner we sell, the better.

Denilson

Denilson hasn’t played for us for two seasons, doesn’t have a squad number but we still pay a sizeable portion of his wages. I cannot understand why we haven’t just cut our losses and accepted a token fee from Sao Paulo for him as he will never play for us again.

Nicklas Bendtner

The big Dane thinks he’s so good he could play for Barcelona. In truth, he wasn’t even good enough for Sunderland last season.

Park Chu Young

A panic buy of massive proportions, fans didn’t understand why we bought him in 2011 and we still don’t understand now. Currently struggling to impress at Celta Vigo.

Sanchez Watt & Craig Eastmond

I watched both of these players play against Chelmsford City of the Blue Square South in the FA Cup at the start of the month. Both looked very, very poor and both should be released.

We could field a whole team of this ‘deadwood’ who I am sure must take a sizeable portion of money out of the club – a sizeable estimate would be £400,000 - £500,000 per week – which would be better spent on hungrier players.

It would also give us better options on the bench when chasing games (such as the Villa game) and would make our squad more competitive.

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