Arsenal Transfers: Gunners Must Clear Out Midfield If Cazorla and Sahin Join

As the transfer window progresses, Arsenal will be looking to strengthen their squad even further then they already have. With the completion of the Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud signings, it doesn't look like the Gunners are done yet.

Recently, Arsenal has been linked with two midfielders, Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin. In the Guardian, it was reported that Arsenal are have been looking to sign Cazorla on a permanent deal and Sahin on a loan deal.

Both of these signings would make Arsenal's attack one of the best in the Premier League, and it would increase their chances of winning a trophy in the coming season.

However, if these two are to join Arsenal, that would leave Arsène Wenger with many options, maybe even too many options, to put in the midfield.

The Gunners already have midfield talents in Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, who is currently on the road to recovery from an injury, and some more midfielders as well.

There would be too many players to pick for midfield positions, and it is likely that some won't play as much as they would like.

Last season, each midfielder managed to get his fair share of playing time throughout the season. The midfield kept changing throughout, sometimes due to injury, other times due to changes in form. 

Sometimes, the midfield composed of Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, and Alex Song; other times, it included Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song, and another midfielder with Yossi Benayoun playing on the left wing sometimes.

With two more midfielders potentially joining the squad, it will be necessary to sell or loan out one or two midfielders.

Nuri Sahin would only be playing at Arsenal for one season, as part of his loan deal, so it is most likely that he would return back to Real Madrid the following summer. However, if he plays really well and Arsenal manage to sign him permanently, then Arsenal would need to sell an extra midfielder.

At this point in time, Arsenal have Henri Lansbury, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin, and Emmanuel Frimpong as midfield options. But, with Frimpong, Wilshere, and Rosicky likely to become healthy in September, that leaves six midfielders at Arsenal's disposal.

But, if both Cazorla and Sahin join, there would be eight options, meaning that maybe a few of them won't play significant minutes.

So, with two additions, one or two of the current midfielders should probably go.

Mikel Arteta is definitely a player who is a key part of Arsenal's attack, and just joined last summer, so he can't leave. Alex Song was also a key part of the Gunners' attack, assisting quite a few of Robin van Persie's goals last season.

With Abou Diaby, Arsène Wenger has a lot of confidence in the Frenchman's success next season, so selling him isn't an option.

This leaves Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, and Henri Lansbury.

Henri Lansbury was just called up to the first team and has been on loan with four different clubs throughout the course of the past four seasons. So, he deserves a chance to play first-team football with Arsenal for at least one season.

With Coquelin, he managed to step up last season when other players were injured. He managed to step into the role of right-back when there weren't any good options. He has also been effective in a defensive midfield position. He is only 21 years old, so he has a long, great career ahead of him.

Aaron Ramsey is a player who played many matches last season; he had 44 appearances in all competitions. He hasn't been credited with being one of Arsenal's best players, but he still has a very promising future, at 21 years old as well.

So with this, I foresee that if Cazorla and/or Sahin joins Arsenal, Aaron Ramsey should go on a season long loan to get as much first-team football as he can.

Francis Coquelin should either go on a loan deal as well, or just stay. As I mentioned earlier, he can play in a defensive midfield position, and can fill in other positions if absolutely necessary, so that gives reason for him to stay.

However, Cazorla is also a very versatile player; not only can he play in attacking midfield positions, but he can also play in a defensive midfield position. So, this supports the idea that Coquelin could go on loan to gain more significant minutes and improve his overall play.

Then, as another clearing option, maybe after Emmanuel Frimpong recovers from his injury, he could be loaned out to another club to get as much first-team football as he can to gain experience.

So, do you think that Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin will even join Arsenal in the first place? If so, should Arsenal let go of some players or send them out on loan? If yes, then which player(s)?

Thanks for reading!