Perry Groves warns Arsenal stars will be sold because of ‘unbelievable’ talent | Football

Perry Groves believes the emergence of Max Dowman will prompt the departures of several big-name Arsenal players in the summer transfer window.

The intense competition for places in Arsenal’s midfield and forward line has already prompted Mikel Arteta to sanction Ethan Nwaneri’s loan to Marseille.

Captain Martin Odegaard’s place in the team is far from secure give his questionable form allied to Eberechi Eze’s brace in last weekend’s north London derby.

Dowman, meanwhile, became the youngest player in the club’s history earlier this season when he made his debut against Leeds United but an ankle injury has ruled the teenager out of action for the past few months.

Whether the 16-year-old, who returned to training earlier this month, will play a part in the run-in remains to be seen but Groves is confident his undeniable talent will eventually force other players out of the club.

‘The thing is though, you won’t have to fit them all in,’ Groves told talkSPORT when contemplating the selection headaches Mikel Arteta is facing on a weekly basis.

‘Because there will be a few that will be gone at the end of the season.

‘The squad is that strong, and there will be new faces that come in, so there will be a few that will be surplus to requirements.’

Groves continued: ‘They all want to go and play.

‘Like you mentioned, Nwaneri, if you’re talking about the inside where he wants to play…

‘You’ve got Eze, Odegaard, then Max Dowman who is unbelievable, trust me.

‘So then Nwaneri quite rightly will be thinking, ‘I want to go and play.”

Viktor Gyokeres, meanwhile, believes Arsenal’s statement derby win against Tottenham was the ‘perfect response’ to silence the club’s critics.

Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze both scored twice to secure a 4-1 triumph over Spurs just four days after Arsenal were rocked by a 2-2 draw at Wolves.

The dropped points at Molineux led to questions about Arsenal’s title mentality. However, their performance against Tottenham – which took them five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League – went some way to silencing the doubters.

And Gyokeres, who extended his league tally to the season for 10, said: ‘It’s always going to be difficult when you get a result like we had at Wolves, but it’s how you handle that, and how you respond to it, and today we showed that it in a good way.

‘To get this result and this performance, it was the perfect way to respond. So, it’s a good sign.

‘The thing is, that we have to keep showing it in the next game and the game after that.

‘There’s a lot of games to go. But if we perform like this, it’s going to be good, for sure.’

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