Arsenal do not need a major overhaul this summer, but the battle for places is set to intensify. With that in mind, preseason offers several players a chance to strengthen their case before the 2026\/27 campaign gets underway.<\/p>\n
To manage the risk of fatigue after a demanding 2025-26 season and the tournament that followed, Arsenal will not travel far for preseason. Instead, they are keeping preparations relatively local as they build toward another long season, with the Community Shield and Premier League defence approaching.<\/p>\n
New arrivals are expected, though they have not yet landed, and any fresh faces could alter the current hierarchy. Even so, five players in particular enter the summer needing to make an impression.<\/p>\n
The left wing is one of the most uncertain areas. Christos Tzolis appears to be arriving to replace Leandro Trossard, while Gabriel Martinelli\u2019s future also remains open. The Brazilian has not fully pushed on since his breakout 2022-23 season, and most of his end product last term came in the domestic cups. Arsenal are not pushing him out, but his role will be watched closely, especially after Carlo Ancelotti used him closer to the striker for the national team at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Mart\u00edn Zubimendi will report back in north London as a world champion, yet his second season could be shaped by the competition around him. Arsenal moved swiftly to secure the Spaniard last summer, seeing him as a replacement for Jorginho and Thomas Partey in one move. He began strongly, but the demands of Premier League soccer appeared to catch up with him later on. Arsenal\u2019s interest in Bruno Guimar\u00e3es could further tighten the midfield picture.<\/p>\n
Ethan Nwaneri returns after his loan at Marseille and faces an important few weeks. The left-footed playmaker has shown ability in spells, but last season did not provide the breakthrough many expected. A strong preseason could help him into a larger role, although a permanent sale or another loan cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n
Riccardo Calafiori, meanwhile, will try to reclaim the leftback spot from Piero Hincapi\u00e9. He returns fully fit and without World Cup commitments, unlike Hincapi\u00e9. After a stop-start spell since joining two summers ago, and with Hincapi\u00e9 potentially needing time to recover from his summer exertions, Calafiori has a clear opening to press his claim again.<\/p>\n
Finally, some supporters would like to see change around the captaincy. Martin \u00d8degaard had a difficult 2025-26 campaign, and Arsenal\u2019s title success without a standout season from the Norwegian has only sharpened that conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal’s summer plans could reshape roles, and five players must prove they belong in preseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303,1818],"tags":[1629,1759,1407],"class_list":["post-17939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","category-premier-league-news","tag-arsenal-captain","tag-arsenal-transfer","tag-arsenal-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}