Calamitous Arsenal signing joining new club after double termination; second leaver set for third tier in Spain

Arsenal goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson is due to join FC Copenhagen after his loan spell with Cardiff City was cut short – and another player on the Gunners’ books is moving abroad to resurrect his career.

Runarsson joined Arsenal from Dijon in 2020, the same year they cashed in on Emiliano Martinez. It is fair to say both goalkeepers have gone on different trajectories since then.

While Martinez has gone on to become Premier League regular with Aston Villa and a World Cup winner with Argentina, Runarsson only made six appearances for Arsenal – including just one in the Premier League – and they have been trying to offload him ever since his debut season.

He has endured loan spells with OH Leuven, Alanyaspor and Cardiff City, but the latter spell – as explained earlier by the Daily Telegraph – has now been terminated.

Cardiff will be replacing Runarsson with Ethan Horvath after agreeing a deal with Nottingham Forest that has persuaded them to return the Iceland international to sender.

But Arsenal – whose main goalkeepers are, of course, David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale – have no intention of reintegrating Runarsson, who has in fact seen his contract terminated by his parent club as well.

Runarsson should have stayed under contract at the Emirates Stadium until the end of the season, but he is now being freed up to leave.

And according to Bold, his next club will be FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga.

At first, Runarsson will be Copenhagen’s backup goalkeeper, behind former Liverpool prospect Kamil Grabara in the pecking order.

However, Grabara has already agreed to join German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg later this year, so there could eventually be an opportunity for Runarsson to step up and fill his gloves.

The 28-year-old is no stranger to the Danish Superliga, having previously played for FC Nordsjaelland between January 2014 and June 2018.

In fact, Nordsjaelland are the club Runarsson has made the most appearances for during his career so far (62).

He only played eight times during his most recent spell with Cardiff.

Another Arsenal exit accelerating

Runarsson is not the only player escaping Arsenal late in the transfer window after a lack of opportunities.

James Benge of CBS and David Ornstein of The Athletic have both revealed that Arsenal are ready to offload academy graduate Miguel Azeez as well.

Now 21 years of age, the midfielder has had loan spells with Portsmouth, Ibiza and Wigan Athletic. He has not made any appearances this season at senior level.

Like Runarsson, Azeez was due to reach the end of his contract at the end of the season, but is getting away from Arsenal before then.

His destination will be Atletico Baleares, who play in the third tier of Spanish football.

The intention from his perspective is to get his career up and running again after struggling to build on his potential.

Azeez only ever played once for Arsenal’s first team, which was in a Europa League match in the 2020-21 season.

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