Arsenal might be needing a roster upgrade, given the club's performance so far in the Premier League, but doing so seems not in the immediate plan, at least not for the January transfer window. One likely reason is the rumored exit of Unai Emery, who could be out of a job before the year ends.
Amid the talks that Arsenal is eyeing transfer targets at the onset of winter, the team remains mum on its recruitment plans. In the meantime, speculations persist that the Gunners will make a move on Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri, who supposedly is now a disgruntled member of the Reds.
According to Team Talk, the Swiss playmaker no longer sees a future with Liverpool following mere two appearances in the season. Shaqiri only came in as a substitute as Jurgen Klopp presently favors Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane as starters.
In light of the situation. Shaqiri is likely to request a transfer and the destination he can look for is North London. Per the same report, the clubs that might be interested include Tottenham and Arsenal but it is the latter that might be the more aggressive taker.
Reports also indicated that the Gunners would want to bring Denis Zakaria from Bundesliga and that a transfer from Borussia Monchengladbach could be in the offing for the midfielder. That happening, however, has been shot down by Mathieu Beda, who acts as an agent for Zakaria.
Beda said the Swiss international is doing great with his current club and is in fact at the top of the league of the German competition. So any of the rumored offers from Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal will not be entertained for now, according to the agent.
"Denis will not leave Borussia in the winter, a change is 100 percent excluded," Bleacher Report quoted Beda as saying.
These developments seemed in line with the report from Metro, which stated that the Gunners are not looking to hire in January unless it is necessary. The report pointed to Athletic's David Ornstein as source of information.
"Despite Arsenal's defensive troubles, I still don't sense a center-back will be recruited in January given the numbers they already have and the arrival of Saliba next summer," Ornstein reportedly said.
The deferment in hiring seemed to be connected with the likelihood that at the start of 2020, Emery will no longer play his role as head coach. The same report recalled that the Gunners board has given the Spanish boss a deadline to make things better for the club.
If no good results for Arsenal are seen by the end of the year, Emery could be ousted and someone else will take charge of the team. That likely explains why the Gunners are not thinking of recruitment plans at the moment.
