- Football supporters are treated like plankton – and it is not just England fans
- Arsenal Transfers: 4 July. AFC sign twins!
By Tony Attwood
Now, if you believe anything you read in the media, according to the Metro, things are getting desperate. For despite finishing comfortably clear of the chasing pack, “the Gunners were often criticised last season for relying on their defensive strengths.” (Metro) And yet, and yet, if you have a spare minute to look at a passing league table, Arsenal were the second-highest scorers in the Premier League, just six goals short of multi- billionaire-financed ManC. And what’s more, Arsenal had the best goal difference in the league and scored 21 more goals than the team in fourth.
And we are also told Trossard is leaving, but has yet to sign a deal with a new club. But we still have a problem, at least according to those guys in the media (who I am sure know a thing or three since that is what they are paid for).
For “with a bloated squad, the team first had to make some sales,” so says Team Talk, explaining Arsenal’s lack of multiple signings. So I got worried and I thought that might be worth looking into.
Using the Premier League’s own official figures, we see the number of over 21s per club as below. For the 2025/26 season, under-21 players had to be born on or after 1 January 2004.
Now most clubs keep a space or three clear for an emergency purchase in January should someone be injured, so a replacement can be brought in quickly while still leaving a space for the injured man’s return. And meanwhile it is important to note that a player declared under 21 at the start of the season (which means born after 1 January 20 04) doesn’t suddenly become over 21 during the season. It is all decided at the start of the season.
So here are the current squad sizes… I have excluded the relegated clubs but as yet don’t have any data on the promoted clubs. But looking at this, we know Chelsea are a basket case, so no change there, although they have got tons of room to bring in players from other members of their group of clubs.
But leaving that aside, Arsenal are in a good position with space for including up to four new players without selling squad members. These are the numbers of declared players who will be counted as over 21 years old next season, in the first team squads… And one thing to note, obviously with this sort of data I can’t verify each total myself, so I am using data published generally. There may be slips.
- Chelsea 17 players
- Manchester United 20 players
- Arsenal 21 players
- Bournemouth 21 players
- Manchester City 21 players
- Sunderland 21 players
- Brentford 22 players
- Brighton and Hove Albion 22 players
- Everton 22 players
- Aston Villa 23 players
- Crystal Palace 23 players
- Fulham 23 players
- Newcastle Utd 23 players
- Leeds Utd 24 players
- Tottenham Ho 24 players
- Liverpool 25 players
- Nottingham Forest 25 players
So Arsenal have lots of room without having to sell, which is of course not the same issue as we find with Tottenham. Or come to that, Liverpool or Nottingham F.
But for Arsenal it still means the question, “who are we going to buy?” is far more relevant for us, than it might be for some other clubs.
So I thought I would give an update on the players being tipped to come our way. According to the media, who of course know everything, there are 28 players coming our way – although I am not sure we can fit them all into a 25 man squad!
| Player | Position | From | Source | Amount | |
| 1 | Julian Alvarez | Centre forward | Atletico Madrid | Football Fan Cast; Sky, Sport Witness, Caught Offside says Gyokeres in part ex. Man I now interested | £150m+ AFC preferred bidder |
| NEW | Tomas Aranda. | Midfield | Boca Juniors | Caught Offside | £15m release clause |
| 3 | Andria Bartishvili | Attacking midfield | Kolkheti Poti | Gooner News | Not known |
| Update | Bradley Barcola | Winger | PSG | Sky Sports, Caught Offside, Football London, Arsenal news, Sports View, Give me Sport. Deal approved, but he wants PSG (Goonernews) £69m quoted. Talks ongoing (GMS) | £45m+ He favours Arsenal |
| 4 | Andria Bartishvili | Attacking midfield | Iberia 1999 | Daily Canon, FFC “in talks” | Not quoted |
| 5 | Phoenix Blayney. | Goal keeper | Larne | Standard | Free? |
| Update | Ayyoub Bouaddi | 18 yr old midfield | LOSC Little | Hard Tackle: he wants to go to PSG, Sports Keeda says Vieira really likes him. FFC. Fo.Lo – he’s on his way. Tott want him. | £60m+. AFC not interested (EPL Index) |
| 7 | Alvaro Carreras | Left Back | Real Madrid | Hard Tackle, FFC | Only just signed |
| 8 | Ivan Fresneda | Defender | Real Valladolid, | Just Arsenal, Arsenal Station | No price specified |
| 9 | Antony Gordon | Winger | Newcastle | Currently on a long term contact | Arsenal monitoring |
| 10 | Morgan Greenwood | Forward | Marseille | Totts want him. | Footballpresse |
| Update | Bruno Guimarães | Forward or central midfield | Newcastle United (he’s the prime target) | Man U., Barcelona and Real Madrid all want him. Five years after first bid!. Newc say not selling. Arsenal News say he’s prime target. Newc World have “exclusive”. Star say its likely. AFC pushing (Cominghome) 2nd offer incoming from AFC. Team Talk | Just Arsenal, Give me Sport. Newc World, Metro. Cub demands more money |
| 12 | Piero Hincapie | Centre or full back | Bayer Leverkusen | Been on loan, now permanent | Deal made permanent |
| NEW | Christian Kofane | Striker | Bayer Leverkusen | Bild. | €100 million. |
| 14 | Manu Kone | Midfield | Roma | Sun – Agreed deal | £43.2m |
| 15 | Ezri Konsa | Full back | Aston Villa | Daily Mail. £35m – to replace Ben white | £35m |
| 16 | Eli Junior Kroupi | Forward | Bournemouth | Football.London – deal about to happen. But Totts want him. GiveMeSport says AFC | ?£15m |
| 17 | Khvicha Kvaratskhelia | Winger | PSG | Sky Sports – PSG don’t want to sell | £100m |
| 18 | Maxence Lacroix | Defender | Crystal Palace | Just Arsenal News | |
| Gone to ManC | Jeremy Monga | Winger (16 years old) | Leicester – gone to ManC | FFC – talks ongoing. FFC – note he’s gone to Manc | AFC determined, but he’s gone to Manc. |
| Update | Dario Osorio | Winger | Midtjylland. | The ‘next Alexis Sanchez’, Sport Witness: Possibly going to Palace. Fo.Lo say “done” Star say there’s competition | 22 year old winger |
| 20 | Edwin Quintero | Forward | Independiente del Valle | 16 year old joining in January. Will join with twin brother Holger Quintero | 16 year old |
| 21 | Holger Quintero | Forwrd | Independiente del Valle | See above. The ‘new Ronaldinhos’ | 16 year old |
| Update | Morgan Rogers | Attacking midfield | Aston Villa | Mirror; Sky, FFC. FoLo Villa lowered price (Standard). Rice telling him to sign. Rice trying to persuade him. Huge offer (Shoot) £130m demanded Talks ongoing (GMS) | £100m, but price now discounted. Getting close – Star |
| 23 | Alex Scott | Midfield | Bournemouth | Better than Guimaras | £65m |
| 24 | Igor Thiago | Striker | Brentford | Football Pressed, EPL Index, club considering… | A priority |
| 25 | Sandro Tonai | Midfield | Newcastle | FFC. ICFootball, £100m bid. Or £80m. | Totts interested |
| 26 | Nicolo Tresoldi | Striker | Club Brugge | Arsenal News | He’s honoured |
| 27 | Christos Tzolis | Winger | Club Brugge | Football 365; Hard Tackle | AFC ahead of Palace. |
| Update | Kenan Yildez | Forward | Juventus | Gooner News, Football Talk, Football London, Football Talk, Team Talk | Club don’t want to sell. AFC persistent |
So there we are – it will be quite a big squad. Shame we can’t fit them all in the 25.
well considering he gave his farewell, the rumours of Trossard leaving us are true.
I hate the thought. I just loved that player.
Then again, as upset as my unsignificant self may be, I can see the reasons :
one year left on his contract, past 30 years, Arsenal had the best (and how good were they) years of his career.
They get a nice profit that goes straight to making the PSR position better.
He most probably gets a very good contract from Besiktas for a few years after that PL Title and the impressive World Cup games. Good for him.
So in the end, a good – and fair – deal for both sides.
I hope Martinelli stays however. Seeing him playing the midfield for Brazil – and being good at – it suddenly opens up possibilities for the future line-ups.
I hope the rumours of Santi Cazorla coming home to Arsenal as a coach are true. This is one thing about Arsenal that is different and makes Arsenal a better club : the players are coming back and helping build the next Arsenal. And Santi is a man of talents and character.