Morning all.

There really is a dearth of Arsenal news about right now. And I quite like it.

It means that the squad is in a good place. There are no leaks. And everyone is just getting on with their job ahead of the new season.

Even the transfer rumour mill has ground to a halt as the media come to the realisation that we are unlikely to sign anyone else this summer.

That does not mean we will not sign anyone. Just that it will have to take a special player to come available for us to make a move.

The only 2 links out there right now are Youri Tielemans and Cody Gakpo. But considering we have been “interested” in the pair for some months, a move surely would have been done by now.

The only news I expect to come out over the next 7 days is new contracts.

Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba are all in line for new deals. I think it is only a matter of time until these are announced.

Other than that it is just departures.

We have a 33 man squad right now which is clearly too many – even with Europa League football.

Of the 33, 6 are Under 21 – which for this year is born on or after 1^st January 2001.

Those 6 are:

Arthur Okonkwo, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinlli, Folarin Balogun and Marquinhos.

That leaves 27 players – which is 2 too many for Premier League registration rules.

From the remaining 27, 19 are non-home grown. We can only register 17.

So just to bring us into line with Premier League rules, 2 will have to go. But logistically it will be much more than that.

The 6 U21 players would mean that we could have a bigger senior squad without breaching Premier League rules if only 2 non-home grown players depart. But that would still leave Mikel Arteta with a 31-man squad.

Last season Arteta had a 21-man squad (with a couple of extra youth players taking spots on the bench) by the time the season ended.

I expect his senior training squad to be cut down to around 27 by the time the transfer window shuts at the end of August.

That will be at least 6 players leaving – either on loan or sold.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Keenos

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