Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has opened up on the decision to let Sead Kolasniac leave and all but confirmed another exit is imminent.
On Tuesday it was announced that the Bosnia and Herzegovina international had joined Ligue 1 outfit Marseille - linking up with Matteo Guendouzi and William Saliba in the process - on a free transfer.
This is after his contract at the Emirates Stadium which was due to expire at the end of the season was cancelled by mutual consent, thus allowing the Gunners to potentially save £2.4m in wages.
Speaking about Kolasinac's departure in his pre-Liverpool press conference, Arteta explained the decision was taken to give the left-back more game time.
"With Kola obviously the game time he's had has made it really difficult for him to be in the team," the Arsenal manager told reporters. "His contract was ending in the summer, so we believe it was the right option to execute that possibility.
"The player wanted to go, he had a good option and it was a good option for the club as well."
With Kolasinac joining Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Folarin Balogun as players to leave Arsenal this month - albeit on loan - a fourth first-team exit is nearing close to completion.
Forgotten central defender Pablo Mari is to join Serie A side Udinese on loan until the end of the season.
Whilst this deal is yet to be announced, Arteta has all but confirmed it's just a matter of time after explaining why the decision has been taken to let the Spaniard depart.
"With Pablo it was much trickier, but again with the injuries and the history he's had at the club since he joined," Arteta added. "He's a phenomenal professional, he hasn't had the minutes again this season and it was going to be difficult for him to play more minutes and a good opportunity came and we have to be open to that."
Mari initially joined Arsenal in the 2020 January transfer window on loan - thus becoming Arteta's first signing as Gunners manager - but was able to earn a permanent deal that summer and ended up making 16 appearances across all competitions last season.
Perhaps surprisingly, he was chosen ahead of Gabriel Magalhaes for the Europa League semi-final games against Villarreal but has since been quietly frozen out of the picture.
Having not made a single Premier League appearance since August, the defender's opportunities would have been extremely limited between now and the end of the season especially as Arsenal are out of the FA Cup.
