Can Arsenal afford to let Gael Clichy leave in the summer?

In recent months Gael Clichy has been persistently linked with a move away from the Emirates Stadium. He has been our first choice left back since Cashley Cole signed for Chelski and has been a consistent performer. However last season wasn't his best and he hasn't been excellent this season. There are many rumors that he isn't going to extend his contract and that Wenger is willing to let him go in the summer rather than leaving for free at the end of next season. I believe Wenger should do everything he can to keep the Frenchman at the club. He is reliable and after all he is still only 25. You would therefore expect his best years to be ahead of him and I'm not sure if Kieran Gibbs is ready to be a first team regular just yet.

 Gael has made 224 starts for the Arsenal and is the only member of the Invincibles who has stayed at the club since the magnificent achievement. Therefore he is Arsenal through and through and is an important member of the squad. Even though he hasn't been excellent recentely there aren't many better left backs in Europe than Clichy. I'm sure Wenger will try to extend Clichy's contract but the Frenchman may decide to stay for next season and then leave on a free. There is nothing Wenger could do about this apart from a huge wage rise, but this isn't Wenger's policy and I'm sure Gael won't be offered any more than the likes of Vermaelen and Sagna. If Gael did decide to leave he would most likely go to an Italian or Spanish side and I simply can't see him signing for Tottenham as some newspapers have been suggesting recentely. He has been at the club too long to go to our arch rivals and there is no way Wenger would sell him to Spurs.

 Therefore if he does leave young Kieran Gibbs would probably be promoted by Wenger to be our first choice left back. At the moment I'm not sure if he is good enough but by the start of the 2012/13 season I'm confident he would be at the required level to start regularly for the Arsenal. The start of next season would be too soon, and that's why I believe we shouldn't sell Clichy, just for the sake of not getting anything for him the season after if he left on a free. Realistically we wouldn't get more than £7 Million for Clichy at the moment and therefore we should try and keep hold of him so Gibbs isn't promoted too early in his career. There also aren't many players we could sign to replace Clichy that would be significantly better than Gibbs. Hopefully Clichy will agree a contract extension but if not we have a ready made replacement in Kieran Gibbs.