Arsenal’s 25 players list is over-full – we must lose some before we can buy

By Tony Attwood

Each year as the transfer window meanders its merry way towards its conclusion I make various ill-advised attempts to work out how we are going to squeeze the players we have and the players we want into the 25 positions that there are available.

And each year (it has become something of a tradition) various readers tell me how wrong I am, whose age I have miscalculated and whose nationality I have got wrong.  And yet despite this I continue and have another go.

And I do this because it does seem important to me as a supporter to try and see where the squad is going, and how many players are going to drop out of the squad.

Here is the squad, with those who will be classified as under 21 for the coming season (remembering it does not relate to the actual age but the rules laid down by the League and FA).

1. Bernd Leno
2. Hector Bellerin
3. Kieran Tierney
4. William Saliba  Under 21
5. Sokratis
6. Gabriel
7. Bukayo Saka  Under 21
8. Dani Ceballos (on loan from Real Madrid)
9. Alex Lacazette
10. Mesut Ozil
11. Lucas Torreira
12. Willian
13. Runar Alex Runarsson
14. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
15. Ainsley Maitland-Niles
16. Rob Holding
17. Cedric Soarers
18. Nicolas Pepe
19. Shkodran Mustafi
20. Calum Chambers
21. Pabloa Mari
22. David Luiz
23. Reiss Nelson Under 21
24. Mohamed Elneny
25. Joe Willock Under 21
26. Matteo Guendouzi Under 21
27. Eddie Nketiah  Under 21
28. Sead Kolasinac
29. Emile Smith Rowe Under 21
30. Matt Macey
31. Granit Xhaka
32. Gabriel Martinelli Under 21

For the 2020/21 campaign to qualify as Under-21, players will have been born on or after 1 January 1999.  They do not count in the 25.  We have eight of them.  Also eight players in the 25 have to be classified as home grown, leaving 17 places for “foreign” players.

The first thing I would say is that this list of 32 players is a pretty impressive line up.  But we have to get down to 25 players so here is the list again, removing the under 21s, as they won’t be counted in the total for the rest of this season.

1. Bernd Leno
2. Hector Bellerin HG
3. Kieran Tierney
4. Sokratis
5. Gabriel
6. Dani Ceballos (on loan from Real Madrid)
7. Alex Lacazette
8. Mesut Ozil
9. Lucas Torreira
10. Willian
11. Runar Alex Runarsson
12. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
13. Ainsley Maitland-Niles HG
14. Rob Holding HG
15. Cedric Soarers
16. Nicolas Pepe
17. Shkodran Mustafi
18. Calum Chambers HG
19. Pabloa Mari
20. David Luiz
21. Mohamed Elneny
22. Sead Kolasinac
23. Matt Macey HG
24. Granit Xhaka

And yes we have done it, with one place spare, which is rather clever – we have a list of players that will fit into the 25.

But we still can have only 17 players who are not home grown.  Here is the list of non-home grown players, excluding anyone under 21 as classified by the authorities.  The insanity of the system is shown in that Bellerin is Home Grown while Tierney as a Scot is not.

1. Bernd Leno
2. Kieran Tierney
3. Sokratis
4. Gabriel
5. Dani Ceballos (on loan from Real Madrid)
6. Alex Lacazette
7. Mesut Ozil
8. Lucas Torreira
9. Willian
10. Runar Alex Runarsson
11. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
12. Cedric Soarers
13. Nicolas Pepe
14. Shkodran Mustafi
15. Pabloa Mari
16. David Luiz
17. Mohamed Elneny
18. Sead Kolasinac
19. Granit Xhaka

So self-evidently we have 19 foreign players who are over 21 who are classified as foreign.  Two need to be got rid of.  The most obvious contenders, judging by the chit-chat and what we observe in the club are Torreira and Ozil.  (Removing Guendouzi doesn’t help since he’s not in the 25, being under 21).

Others are of course mentioned in dispatches, such as Sokratis, Mustafi and Kolasinac.   Mind you until recently Elneny would have been included in that list and I most certainly don’t think he is now.

Last season Xhaka would also have been included – which shows how things can change.  So it’s guess work as long as we are not in the club, but I’d guess on Torreira and Ozil, with Ozil doing a Bale type move with some of this wages still being paid by Arsenal for the final year of the contract.

So that gives us our list of 17 “foreign” players, plus five home grown players making a total of 22 players.    Plus our eight under 21s.  OK we might lose Guendouzi, but that still leaves a rather impressive bunch of players that will, I suspect make a huge impact.  Including Martinelli who won’t play until next year.  Here is that impressive under 21 list…

1. William Saliba  Under 21
2. Bukayo Saka  Under 21
3. Reiss Nelson Under 21
4. Joe Willock Under 21
5. Matteo Guendouzi Under 21
6. Eddie Nketiah  Under 21
7. Emile Smith Rowe Under 21
8. Gabriel Martinelli Under 21

To summarise I have got to 17 foreign players, five home grown players, eight under 21s, leaving two vacancies for home grown players aged over 21.

That last point is the important point. If we are going to buy any more foreign players we need to get rid of another foreign player from my remaining list for each extra one we buy.  And although that is always thought to be easy (as in “sell xxx” the player has to agree and someone has to want him).

To remind us where we are, out list of non-home grown over 21s is now made up of 19 players from whom we have to lose two before we even get down to the maximum number.   Then we have to lose one more for each new foreign adult player we wish to buy.

I have marked up in red the two that I think might go just to get us legal and then the common suspects for transfer to bring in some more foreign players marked in blue.

1. Bernd Leno
2. Kieran Tierney
3. Sokratis
4. Gabriel
5. Dani Ceballos (on loan from Real Madrid)
6. Alex Lacazette
7. Mesut Ozil
8. Lucas Torreira
9. Willian
10. Runar Alex Runarsson
11. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
12. Cedric Soarers
13. Nicolas Pepe
14. Shkodran Mustafi
15. Pabloa Mari
16. David Luiz
17. Mohamed Elneny
18. Sead Kolasinac
19. Granit Xhaka

Now the point is, players don’t have to go.  They have a contract with the club and can sit it out if they want.  Also I’d add that Musafi, Sokratis and Kolasinac are the names that are being mentioned in some places for departure… they are not my choices.

But to summarise, however it is done, we have to get rid of two more non-home-grown players before we can even start thinking about bringing in anyone else.  It could be difficult in this very curious market.