Category Archives: Arsenal

State of Arsenal report: 2025/26

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With all the debate around incomings, one thing has not yet really been spoken about this summer – how the squad is looking in terms of numbers.

Every year, I write a State of Arsenal report. Rather than focusing on positions we need to improve on, etc, the report is takes on how many players we have in the squad, how many of these are non-home grown and how many do not require registering.

Once you get an understanding of the squad places available, you then realise how many players Arsenal could sign, what country they can come from, and who we need to sell if space is needed to be freed up.

Now this is being written on Friday 27 June, before any new players have been signed. I have excluded those players (including Thomas Partey) whose contracts are expiring on 30 June.

By now, you should know the rules. But in case you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years, here are the Premier League rules are:

  • Teams may register up to 25 players
  • No more than 17 “non-home grown” players may be registered
  • You do not need to register Under-21 players who been born on or after 1 January 2004.

So what does Arsenal’s squad look like?

Now what is interesting straight off the bat is just how small the Arsenal squad is right now.

Including Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, who do not need to be registered as they are U21, we have a first team squad of 23. This increases to 24 if you include teenage keeper Tommy Setford. However, only 21 players need to be registered.

This is further proof as to why the likes of Kepa (2nd choice keeper), Christian Norgaard (4th choice midfielder) and Cristhian Mosquera (Saliba back up) are essential signings this summer.

Whilst they might not be the big names some were after, and none are the forwards we need, they were signings we needed to make.

Those 3, alongside Martin Zubimendi, will take our squad to 27 players (I have excluded Setford as he is 4th choice keeper). 25 of whom will be registered.

That leaves us no more room for a new left winger or striker. We would also be bang on the non-home grown requirement. However we need to factor in outgoings.

Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riess Nelson are two players that are very obviously “surplus to requirements”. I think we would all be surprised if either of them pull on an Arsenal shirt next season.

Just those two sales bring us back down to 23 registered players. However, with only Zinchenko departing as a non-home grown player, we would only have one free space on that side of the squad.

That would mean of the striker and winger we need, one would have to be home grown – which is why the links with Eberechi Eze are perhaps popping up. The alternative is we sell further players, or do not register than.

Albert Sambi Lokonga is another who will likely be told to look for a new club (once Norgaard is signed), whilst Fabio Vieira is another that will likely depart. One of these two departin will clear the space for us to sign a striker and winger from whichever country we like.

On top of that, you have Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus. Both men are long term injured. Again.

Gabriel Jesus is not expected back until “late 2025”, whilst no update has been provided for Tomiyasu. Due to their status on the medical table, I would be surprised if either are sold this summer.

The likelihood is they will be registered to play if the squad space is available come 31 August. If it is not, expect them both to be left unregistered. I imagine both would then be moved on in the summer.

So that State of Arsenal? We are in a good place. We do not really need to sell to buy initially to free up space. and we have some very obvious candidates that will likely be moved on to free up space.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Keenos

Arsenal getting it right in the transfer window

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“Another defensive midfielder”
“Another goalkeeper”
“Another defensive midfielder”
“Another centre back”
“Arteta has a fetish”

It is baffling that Arsenal are criticised for not signing players, then when deals are done (and just awaiting to be announced), are then criticised for saying players.

Whilst we all know we need a striker and a winger, we also needed a new defensive midfielder, which became two when Thomas Partey decided not to sign a new deal. Right sided central defensive cover for William Saliba was also essential, as was back up for David Raya.

Whilst Kepa and Christian Norgaard might not be the most exciting names, both are experienced Premier League campaigners who are ready to go from day one. The pair played regularly for mid-table Premier League sides last year, with Norgaard captaining Brentford.

I have always said a “squad player” at a title-chasing team needs to be good enough to start regularly for a mid-table team, and Kepa and Norgaard are that. And the fact that we are getting them for just £15 million combined is shrewed business.

We could have signed more exciting players as backup dancers. Spent £20-30 million on each of them. But they would unlikely have been better than Kepa and Norgaard. And every penny over the £15m we have spent on the pair would have been a penny less than we would have to spend elsewhere.

And ultimately, the club need to sign the players they think will improve us, whilst understanding the bigger picture and impact each deal will have on other deals. They do not sign players to appease cry-arsing fans.

It has to be remembered that, with Norgaard, he is replacing Jorginho in the squad, and not Thomas Partey.

The Ghanian is our first choice defensive midfielder, and he is being replaced by Martin Zubimendi.

Taking into account Partey’s fitness problems over the 5-years at the club and his huge wage, it is hard not to see Zubimendi as an upgrade.

Zubimendi is Spain’s second best defensive midfielder behind Rodri, and was being chased by Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona. He chose Arsenal because he believed in Arteta and adds an aspect of control in the centre of midfield. A fabulous signing.

And then last night it broke that Arsenal were close to securing a deal for Valencia centreback Cristhian Mosquera.

I will be honest, I do not know much about Mosquera beyond that he was first choice for Valencia last season, is 21 today, has been playing at the Euro U21 tournament and will cost less than £20m.

Reports are that he is quick and strong, and therefore should be natural cover for William Saliba.

Last season, Saliba’s cover was a mixture of Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu. None of whom are a specialist centreback. Bringing in Mosquera would mean we have specialist cover in that area.

An eye also needs to be kept on Saliba’s contract – his current deal expires in 2-years and there has been little talk of a new one. Taking into account how Real Madrid have operated in the transfer market recently, I would not be surprised if they are already in his ear about a move in 2027.

If Mosquera is rated highly, getting him in now will give him 2-years to grow and settle before potentially replacing Saliba. Of course, I do not want the Frenchman to leave but this deal does feel like it could be future proofing our defence if he decides to depart.

So there we have it. 3 squad players signed (or on the brink of signing) for a combined £35m, and a first choice defensive midfielder for £55m. £90m spent, with all 4 likely to be announced next week (it was always said that we would start announcing deals from 1 July).

And if you are still unsure why we signed those players:

The graphic above really highlights the impact of the signings have had on the midfield down. We now have proper quality squad depth from goalkeeper, through the defence and into the midfield. 2 players for every position.

If you do not think the players we signed we essential, cross them out of the graphic above and see what you are left with….

And finally, yes we need a new striker, and a new winger. But this is not FIFA or Football Manager. You can not sign players in a “certain order” just for good PR.

A deal for someone like Rodrygo will not be done until after the Club World Cup. And it might take a few weeks after as he will want to go straight on holiday and turn off his brain. I would not be surprised if we do not see his situation resolved until August.

In the meantime, we are looking at alternatives, and Eberechi Eze is a name that has broken recently.

With his release clause, Eze would be a quick deal to do. But signing him would mean no Rodrygo.

Rodrygo needs to be our number one target, and we just need to be saying to Eze that if the deal for the Brazilian is not done by the first week of August, we will pivot to him. Now whilst some might say “why would Eze join if he knew he was second choice” – get in the real world. Most players realise when joining a new club that they were not first choice.

And in August, if Rodrygo joins, Eze would still have plenty of options on the table elsewhere.

As for the striker, the situation is unchanged with Viktor Gyorekes and Benjamin Sesko. There is still brinksmanship between Arsenal, sporting and RB Leipzeg.

I beleive Sesko is our first choice, but the sticking point is the fee. RB Leipzeg apparantly need to make some sizeable sales before 1 July, so Arsenal will be hoping to use this to drive the price down. And if the deal is not done by then, I think we will quickly pivot to Gyorekes.

All in all, Arsenal are getting it right this transfer window.

We have recruited squad players without breaking the bank. Players that raise our floor. And we are still continuing to work on a couple big name signings that will raise the ceiling. But these bigger deals take time.

Keenos

Arsenal need to repeat Summer of ’22

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Cast your mind back to the summer of 2022. What were you doing? Covid measures had been finally lifted at the beginning of the year and we were in the midst of our first proper summer in 3-years.

Arsenal had just finished 5th in Mikel Arteta’s first full season, with 2 defeats in the last 3 games of the season (including one away to Spurs), leaving everyone a bit deflated. In response, we acted quickly and decisively in the market with the bulk of our business done before we stepped on the plane to our USA tour.

The result was we thrashed Chelsea 4-0 in Orlando as a taster of what might come, before beating Sevilla 6-0 in the 2022 Emirates Cup.

Following pre-season, there was excitement in the air of North London. Everyone was delighted with the business we had done and how quickly we had concluded the deals.

The pre-season results springboarded us into the new campaign and we won 9 of our first 10 games. Proof, if needed, that getting your business done early can lead to an explosive start to the season.

Considering the tough start we have to the 2025/26 season, we need to look at that summer of ’22 and try and replicate. Try and get the deals done quickly and have the squad settled before we go off to Singapore.

You would find very few, if any, that would disagree with the above. That like in 22, we “must act fast” and that by taking our signings on tour it could catapult “the team to an electric start of the season”.

So lets have a reminder of what happened in the summer of ’22:

10 June 2022- Arsenal sign Marquinhos from Sao Paulo on long-term deal
21 June 2022 – Porto agree to sell Fabio Vieira to Arsenal in £34m deal
27 June 2022 – Matt Turner: United States goalkeeper joins Arsenal from New England Revolution
4 July 2022 – Gabriel Jesus: Arsenal sign Brazil forward from Manchester City for £45m on long-term deal
22 July 2022 – Arsenal sign Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City on ‘long-term’ deal

Now reading above, your first thought might be “really?” when you look at those dates Gabriel Jesus and Olexsandr Zinchenko signed.

By the end of June all we had signed was an unknown talent from Brazil a back up keeper and a big money risk from Portugal. Our two big name signings were not secured until July.

This will probably raise eyebrows from those moaning how slow off the mark we are this summer and saying we need to act more like it is 2022. Those people are clearly misremembering the facts. And as an example, Zinchenko did not actually sign for us until halfway through the Florida Cup tour, a day before we played Chelsea.

By the time this blog is live, we might have already announced Kepa and Martin Zubimendi. That will mean we are ahead of where we were for the 2022 summer transfer window – a number 2 keeper signed (same as 2022), and a first team player signed (which did not happen in 2022 until July).

Imagine the outcry if come the end of June, we have still not secured either Benjamin Sesko or Viktor Gyorekes? Yet the same people will point to the summer of 2022 window as a success, when we did not sign Gabriel Jesus until July!

And we fly out to Singapore on 23 July. That is more than a month away so plenty of time to secure our major signings before we go out on tour.

I think it is important to remember that if you are pointing to another year and saying “this is how it should be done”, you can not then criticise the club when those corresponding dates have not yet passed.

The summer of 2022 we acted quickly. But lets not pretend that all the deals were done before 21 June. At that point we had only signed the unknown from Brazil.

So yes, we need to replicate the summer of ’22. But let’s not then change the narrative of what actually happened during that window.

Have a good Saturday!

Keenos