Monreal warns Arsenal may need to sell Rice or Zubimendi to sign Tonali

Former Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal has warned that signing Sandro Tonali from Newcastle this summer would likely force the Gunners to sell either Declan Rice or Martin Zubimendi, given the depth Mikel Arteta already has in central midfield.

Arsenal have been linked with the Italian international alongside Manchester United, but Monreal believes the logic of adding another midfielder to a squad that already includes Rice, Zubimendi, Mikel Merino and Christian Norgaard is hard to justify without a corresponding departure.

“If Arsenal sign Tonali, obviously they will have the best midfield in the world,” Monreal told Rekatochklart. “But they signed Zubimendi last year for a lot of money, so it is a difficult one. To have both Tonali, Zubimendi, and Rice would be a lot, so I can only imagine that they would have to sell either Zubimendi or Declan Rice if they really want Tonali. In my opinion, they already have the two best defensive midfielders in the world.”

Rice, 27, joined Arsenal from West Ham in a £105 million deal in 2023 and has made 158 appearances for the club, playing a central role in their Premier League title win this season. He still has two years remaining on his contract.

Despite speculation, Rice has shown no desire to leave, and following Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat he struck a defiant tone about the group’s ambitions. “Since I came to the club, it was a quarter-final exit, semi-final, and now a final. We keep going, we keep staying positive,” he said. “This isn’t going to define us.”

Rice also paid tribute to Arteta’s leadership after the final loss. “He just spoke about how much he loves us as a group and this season what we’ve done in terms of how we’ve been every single game, 100 per cent, given absolutely everything,” he said. “We got over the line in the Premier League, which was a dream come true. This would have been one step further, but it wasn’t meant to be. We keep building.”

Whether Arsenal pursue Tonali remains to be seen, but Monreal’s assessment underlines the squad-management dilemma any such move would create — particularly given the significant investment already made in Zubimendi and Rice.