Jorginho was sold, Maddison and Ramos signed, and a Liverpool.

Abig summer awaits Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar at Arsenal. After coming close to beating Manchester City for the Premier League title, adding one or two good players could make all the difference next season.

But what choices do we have to make? Who should Arsene Wenger and Arsene Wenger look at to add to the first-team squad so they can take on another task in addition to the Champions League? Who should stay, and maybe more importantly, who should go?

In order to answer these important questions, we took a page from our friends at the Daily Mirror and asked our football.london team to play “Managing: Arsenal.” Here’s what they had to say.

Tom Canton

It’s pretty simple: If Arsenal wants to be able to fight better with Manchester City, they need to make sure that at least 18 of the players in their squad are good enough to start. Granit Xhaka and Kieran Tierney could leave before the end of the season, but they will be replaced. This could make them a little weaker than they were before.

Realistically, Emile Smith Rowe, Leandro Trossard, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior, and Jorginho are five players on the bench who are not in this season’s best eleven. So, when players like Rob Holding, Eddie Nketiah, and a few others come back from loan after moving on, it will trim the team in the right way and make room for more new players.

These need to be at the top level, and I would sign Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo as a mega-double in the middle right away. Raphael Guerreiro is available for free after leaving Borussia Dortmund with six goals and fourteen assists this season while playing left back and in the middle of the field. I would try to sign him.

Sacha Boey is a player who is getting a lot of attention, and the more I learn about him, the more I like him. I think he could be the faster right-back choice that the Gunners need to give them more in the final third. Up top, I’d add a different kind of scorer than Gabriel Jesus. Randal Kolo Muani would be my first choice, but if he’s too expensive, Rasmus Hojlund would be my second choice.

These five additions, plus maybe a creative midfielder if the budget allows it, like James Maddison, would add a lot of skill and versatility to the team. It would give Mikel Arteta the good choices he needs to fight on all fronts.

Aaron Catterson-Reid

On paper, Arsenal seems to have a simple summer ahead of them. The obvious place to start is in the middle of the field. Mikel Arteta’s team needs more muscle in the middle of the field, especially since Granit Xhaka is leaving for Bayer Leverkusen.

The tactical flexibility of adding Declan Rice comes from the fact that the West Ham captain is more than capable of playing as a lone no. 6 or even moving further forward in Xhaka’s old no. 8 spot on the left side. It would be hard to sign both Rice and Moises Caicedo in the same summer, but bringing in the Ecuadorian could take the Gunners to the next level by strengthening their transition defense and having a high level of vertical progression and press resistance in central areas.

The defense also needs some work, but it’s more about getting players so that an injury to someone like William Saliba doesn’t throw off their whole season again. Like Ben White, Mohamed Simakan could play both center back and right back, which makes sense.

Arsenal has one of the best front lines in Europe, so there isn’t much that needs to be changed there. However, a left-footed right winger could be brought in as a backup to help Bukayo Saka create more on the right side. Moussa Diaby might be too expensive, so Mohammed Kudus could be a good option since he can also play somewhere else when needed.

Sam Truelove

This summer, Arsenal is in a good spot, and it’s important that they make the right big choices. First of all, expenses. Edu needs to sell carefully, and it helps that, for once, the Gunners have a lot of high-value assets that they don’t need. Folarin Balogun should be the first one to leave. He had a good season in France and could be sold for up to £40 million.

If the 21-year-old lives in north London, it will be hard for him to find spare minutes, so he should leave. The same is true for Kieran Tierney, who could get up to £40 million. Newcastle United is one of the teams that is interested in him.

Granit Xhaka and Charlie Patino should be allowed to leave, and offers for Rob Holding, Emilio Smith Rowe, and Jorginho should be considered. The last two may be a surprise, but Smith Rowe would want a good fee and there isn’t really a spot for him in the starting XI right now. Also, Jorginho was more of a stopgap measure, so if the club can get back what they paid for him, it seems like a no-brainer.

Signings are now the fun part. Declan Rice is the most important player to sign, but I wouldn’t give more than £100 million for him. If the Gunners can’t get the West Ham leader to sign with them, they should look into deals for Martn Zubimendi and Mason Mount. I could also see Youri Tielemans (free transfer) playing for Arsenal, and I wouldn’t rule out a move for Ruben Neves, who could be available for a fair price.

Ivan Fresneda seems like a good buy because he can do a lot of different things. If they buy him, Ben White could move back to his preferred center-back position. At left back, I like the look of Borna Sosa, a Croat who has been compared to David Beckham because of how well he passes the ball. I would avoid Joao Cancelo and try to sign an elite No. 9 instead. That way, Gabriel Jesus could be a backup scorer and a good substitute for Bukayo Saka when he needs a break. Jonathan David from Lille is my choice.

Josh Holland

Arsenal is going into the summer stronger than in years past because they have a clear plan for how to get better. No longer do players like Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Lucas Perez join the club.

Mikel Arteta wants to improve his team for next season, which makes sense since his players didn’t do well in the second half of 2022/23. In the past two years, Edu Gaspar, who is in charge of sports, has spent money wisely, and he will have to do the same thing this year.

Declan Rice should be the first one to walk in. Arsenal will be hoping that it doesn’t happen again like it did with Mykhailo Mudryk in January. It will be important to get the deal done as soon as possible. Since William Saliba’s injury showed how few defensive choices Arteta had, there has been a lot of talk about how to make them better. But Jakub Kiwior is more than a good choice, and he is more than able to learn English football and save Stan Kroenke millions of dollars.

Someone is attacking a place that does need to be looked at. Gabriel Jesus is a great player who has helped Arsenal get to the next level. However, they haven’t always had a player who scores a lot of goals, so Goncalo Ramos would be a great addition.

Richard Cusack

At the Emirates Stadium, everything is set up for a fun summer. Stan Kroenke and his son Josh seem to have gotten their energy back, and their teams are doing well. Last year, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko were two key players that Arsenal signed that made a big difference.

Adding Declan Rice from West Ham United and getting another world-class fullback would give a team that was almost there last season a little more world-class ability. With the Champions League, there will be more games and more pressure, so Arsenal will need to find players who can do well in that kind of setting.

This summer, the focus will be on getting players who can put the Gunners back in the mix with world-class teams and help the club continue to change its way of thinking. It will also take some time to get used to the new expectations, and it will be interesting to see how Arsenal handles the season after an early title fight.

Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

The most important thing for Arsenal to do this summer should be to improve Mikel Arteta’s best XI. In a perfect world, Jude Bellingham would replace Granit Xhaka in the number eight position on the left side of the middle. In all likelihood, that won’t happen, but Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo would also be great adds.

Since the Gunners have scored 88 Premier League goals this season, it seems silly to say they need more offensive help. However, if a player with a different profile than Gabriel Jesus is on the market, Edu should go after him, whether that means trying again to sign Dusan Vlahovic or someone else.

When it comes to leaving, there is a chance that Kieran Tierney will sign with Newcastle United. But both Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu, if he can stay healthy, can play left back, so Arsenal doesn’t need to sign a substitute right away, even though Joao Cancelo has been talked about.

Now, the story of Rob Holding is interesting. If he left this summer, his replacement should have Premier League experience, be a homegrown player, and be fine with being a rotational player in the team. That makes it hard to find someone, but Joe Gomez from Liverpool fits the bill. He’s a wild card, but he can play center back and right back, and he’s played in the Champions League before, so it might not be the worst idea in the world.

Marc Guehi would be a good addition, but at 22 years old, he needs to play regular first-team football to grow. I’m not sure he’d get that chance at Arsenal, especially if William Saliba is fully healthy at the start of next season.

Also, Arteta will have to decide what to do with several members of the loan army. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nuno Tavares, Nicolas Pepe, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Auston Trusty, Marquinhos, and Runar Alex Runarsson followed Xhaka, Pablo Mari, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles out the door one way or another.

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