Two of Arsenal’s World Cup stars could be sold as Emery wields axe

Danny Welbeck and David Ospina could be two high-profile casualties as Unai Emery continues his rebuilding job at Arsenal, according to reports.

Welbeck, who has been away in Russia for the World Cup with England, is in the final year of his contract at the Emirates and could struggle to get into the starting line-up with competition from the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Despite his injury struggles in previous seasons, Welbeck did manage to play 42 games last season despite only scoring 27 goals across four seasons at Arsenal.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen leaves Ospina’s future up in the air with Petr Cech expected to stay and compete for the number one spot.

The Daily Telegraph claims that Emery – who replaced Arsene Wenger as manager earlier in the summer – is now concentrated on trimming the squad following the arrivals of Leno, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi.

As well as Welbeck and Ospina, the report names Lucas Perez, Carl Jenkinson, Chuba Akpom and Joel Campbell as other players that could face the chop.

It is understood that Emery sees Aaron Ramsey as an integral part of the team and he will try to tie him down to a new contract with the Welshman out of contract next summer.

Hector Bellerin has been linked with a move to Barcelona, but despite the arrival of Lichtsteiner, the Gunners are determined to keep the Spaniard.

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