Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits there is a "cloud" hanging over the futures of each of the club's three senior strikers.
Arteta stripped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the captaincy this week after the Gabon international returned back late from an authorised trip to France to see his mother.
Aubameyang has not featured for Arsenal since the incident earlier this month, and he could be on his way out in January.
Alexandre Lacazette has deputised to good effect in the Premier League, while Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick when he was given a start against Sunderland in the League Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Both players could be plying their trade elsewhere next season, though, with Lacazette and Nketiah's contracts set to expire in June.
That could leave Arsenal short of options up front, and Arteta did not deny that the situation is potentially problematic.
“We have a cloud and the cloud is there and, at the moment, we’re not able to change it," he said.
"We’re working on it to try to make it as small as possible and as clear as possible, but it’s the situation we are in because contracts have details, the timing of them is tricky and we are trying to resolve it.”
Arsenal are still keen to tie Nketiah down to a new deal, but the 22-year-old has grown frustrated at a lack of game time.
Meanwhile Lacazette has been linked with a move overseas and Arteta hinted that Arsenal would be prepared to let certain players leave as free agents.
“It depends on every single case, depends on the player’s situation, the minutes he’s playing, his willingness or the offer that you have,” he added. “But it’s something that you have to consider.”
Arsenal face Norwich at Carrow Road on Boxing Day, before taking on Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
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