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Kaya Kaynak

Transfer deadline day predictions: Aubameyang leaves as Arsenal miss out on Arthur and Isak

30 days in, and there's still so many questions that need to be answered heading towards the final day of January at Arsenal

Thus far we've seen plenty of exits. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Flo Balogun and Pablo Mari have all been allowed to go out on loan, while Calum Chambers has secured a permanent move to Aston Villa, and Sead Kolasinac had his contract terminated to facilitate a move to Marseille.

On the incomings front though it's been painfully quiet, despite some obvious areas where Arsenal need to strengthen.

Midfield and centre forward are the big positions the Gunners have looked to add in this month but as of yet they've been unsuccessful. That could be about to change yet.

Transfer deadline days can be famously unpredictable. Take the summer one just gone for example when seemingly out of nowhere Arsenal conspired to bring in Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna in the dying seconds of the window.

With that in mind here football.london takes a look at what it expects to happen going into the final few hours of January.

Outgoings

It probably seems best to start with the outgoings, as that's been the running theme of this transfer window for Arsenal.

There are likely to be a few academy players who head out on loan tomorrow.

Karl Hein, Tyreece John-Jules and Ryan Alebiosu have all secured temporary moves elsewhere until the end of the season, and it is expected that they will be followed by Nikolaj Moller, and potentially Tim Akinola as well.

Winger Kido Taylor-Hart is unlikely to be going anywhere though as he recovers from an abdominal strain that has kept him out of Kevin Betsy's under-23 side in recent weeks.

As we've already mentioned five first team players have been allowed to leave in one form or another, but it doesn't appear that the exits will stop there.

In goal there did seem to be a possibility that Bernd Leno could leave as he seeks to secure a spot in Germany's World Cup squad at Qatar 2022, with Matt Turner set to join from New England Revolution.

However, football.london understands that the American stopper will not be coming in until the summer, meaning it's pretty safe to say that Leno - who is in Dubai with the rest of the Gunners squad on a midseason training camp - will be staying in north London despite the fact that there are no more cup games and Aaron Ramsdale is firmly the number one.

It was possible that Cedric could be on his way earlier in the window when Atletico Madrid showed interest, and while sources close to the player informed football.london that he wasn't willing to close doors on a possible exit, the departures of Chambers and Maitland-Niles mean that he will now be staying.

Mohamed Elneny only has six months left on his deal, but given the depth problems the Gunners have had in the middle of the park recently it's safe to assume he'll be seeing out the remainder of his contract.

Another player whose contract is running down is Eddie Nketiah, although whether he will end up staying is less certain.

The England under-21 international is keen to get more regular playing time, and Newcastle are reportedly working hard to try and secure his signature. If he were to leave though Arsenal would have Alexandre Lacazette as their only out and out number nine in the squad who has been available for selection recently.

The Frenchman himself only has six months remaining on his own deal at the Emirates, but with numbers so thin on the ground up top, it's hard to see either going anywhere before the end of the season.

His good friend Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang does seem far more likely to depart however.

The 32-year-old has not even made the bench for Arsenal since being stripped of the club captaincy as a result of disciplinary breaches last month, and after not being invited on the mid-season trip to Dubai, Mikel Arteta has indicated that he is open to see him leaving.

Two clubs in Saudi Arabia reportedly showed interest, but the Saudi transfer deadline is on Sunday meaning that he will most likely not be heading there.

Instead it would seem that Barcelona is the more likely destination for the Gabon international who is reportedly getting closer to sealing a loan move there. The stumbling block is understood to be over how the player's salary will be paid between the two clubs, but if that can be sorted then Aubameyang seems like he'll be on his way.

Incomings

This is the section that probably won't go down too well with most Arsenal fans.

At time of writing it's looking as though Matt Turner is the only piece of business Arsenal are going to do this January.

Midfield was an area they were looking to strengthen and football.london reported that they were interested in bringing Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus, but the Italian giants' demands' that any move be an 18 month deal with a potential obligation to buy meant that that deal wasn't a goer.

The Gunners had been looking at Bruno Guimaraes of Lyon for a very long time, but the Brazilian ultimately ended up going to Newcastle for a transfer fee worth upwards of £40 million.

Up front Arsenal were also keen on strengthening.

Dusan Vlahovic was a player they were hopeful of bringing in, but as football.london reported at the start of the month, the Serbian international's preference was always to stay in Italy and he has ended up with Juventus.

Jonathan David and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were other targets at number nine, but with just hours remaining of the window, Alexander Isak appears to be the most likely name to arrive in north London before 11pm on Monday.

The Swede has a release clause that in theory should make a deal easy enough to do and Arsenal are working on the deal, but the fact that it is reportedly valued at around £70 million makes things more complicated.

There is so little time left in the window that negotiating that fee down seems unlikely, so if the Gunners can't get the deal done this time around then they could be back in during the summer.

Edu is keen to learn from mistakes of the past where Arsenal have made hefty financial commitments to players, only to see them not work and for said players to be impossible to shift due to their high wages.

For this reason it would seem any extra incomings are unlikely, but you can never say never in the January transfer window.

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