Over the years I have written blogs on the status (not state) of our squad.
Basically answering the questions of how many non-home grown players we have, how many home grown, how many U21.
It is usually a good exercise to see exactly why Arsenal need to sell before buying, and to see what status of player we can sign.
As always, the rules.
People often make the mistake of thinking you need a minimum of 8 home grown players in the squad. You do not. There is no minimum.
The rule revolve around the maximum of non-home grown players. You can have no more than 17.
For all intents and purposes, a side could register just 17 players for a season. All non-home grown. And not register a single home grown player.
You also have U21 players. They do not need to be registered in the main squad list.
For this season a you are U21 if you are born before 1st January 2000.
As it stands (I am writing this on Tuesday morning), our squad looks like this:
The break down is as follows:
Non-home grown – 16 players
Home grown – 8 players
U21 – 6 players
So to put simply, Arsenal have one space left in the squad of 25 that had to be registered with the Premier League. That space can be filled with anyone – home grown or non-home grown.
Some people are concerned that selling Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland Niles, Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding and Reiss Nelson would vastly reduce our home grown contingent.
Yes, it would do that but it really is not that important.
Over the 3 categories Arsenal currently have 30 players. With no European football we have less games. We really do not need that many players.
All 5 of those players could be sold and not replaced and Arsenal would still have 2 players for each position.
The only issue selling all 5 would mean is we would still onely have 1 non-home grown player spot. So if we sold them and wanted to add another couple of players, one would have to be home grown and the other either home grown or non-home grown.
As our main targets seem to be James Maddison and Aaron Ramsdale, this does not seem to be a huge issue.
Edu and his team will also be looking to move on a few more non-home grown players.
The likes of Runar Alex Runarsson, Saed Koalsinac, Lucas Torreira and Willian will all surely be sold or loaned out before the end of the summer.
Getting rid of these 4 would give Arsenal a lot of flexibility as to what they can bring in.
Looking towards the future, everyone on the U21 list br Nuno Taveras will become “home grown” over the next 2 seasons so we also do not have much to worry about there.
So as it stands, Arsenal are in a tough position on squad size rather than the make up of the squad. We can only add one senior player to it without selling or loaning.
Selling players is key prior to further investment.
If a book were to be written about the 2020/21 season, the first question the author would ask themselves is “where do I start?”.
With Covid19 forcing games to continue behind closed doors, then stadiums reopening and shutting in the blink of an eye. The European Super League and Arsenal finishing the campaign without European football for this first time this millennium. So much happened both on and off the pitch.
Darren addresses every event as it happens on and off the pitch, starting with September and games beginning behind closed doors.
We quickly reach December and the return of the fans and before he has even done his Christmas shopping, games are once again behind closed doors.
The book also introduces the “Rise of the Anti-Fan”.
2020/21 became the season when some football fans took a position to continually criticise the clubs they apparently loved to appear “edgy”, “cool” and mainly in the name of retweets, followers and notoriety.
The type of people who moan the club are not spending any money. Then money when the club spends money. As Darren puts it “Arsenal could win the treble and they would say the side was overrated”.
As the year moves into 2021, with Arsenal in a “relegation battle” (we never were, it was the media hyping a story for clickbait: see Darren’s previous book) Darren sums up the feeling of probably every football fan when he says “I really can’t be bothered”.
Alongside what is happening on the pitch, Darren shares his own experiences of living (and often drinking) his way through various different tiers of lockdown as part of his Corona Diaries. Stories that everyone that lived the experience can recognise.
Lockdown fatigue has set in and Arsenal are doing little to raise an excitement.
Just as we thought things could not get any worse, in April the European Super League reared its ugly head.
Some good came out of the Super League which gave us an excuse to meet old mates in pubs around the ground before the protest.
As the season comes to a close, Darren begins to discuss his hopes for the next season with the return of fans full time and the ending of lockdown.
No matter how poor the previous season was, it is always the hope that gets you, draws you back in just as you thinking it was time to give it all up.
2020/21 was a journey of epic proportions; and there is no better way to experience what happened than through the eyes and pen of Darren Berry’s Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries.
To purchase Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown) Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaries, click here.
In the modern era of footballers, he is a bit of a throw back.
A no nonsense defender not concerned with how he looks or chasing fame and celebrity. He turns up, does his job and goes home.
has not been groomed for stardom from a young age. Just a working class normal lad who happens to be good at football.
It is so hard to connect with most footballers these days but Holding was one that was easy to like. If felt like he was me or you. Just better at football.
Holding is an underrated player who was integral to us winning the FA Cup in 2016/17 and 2019/20. I do not think his efforts in both of those victories should be underestimated. He does not have a couple of medals in his cabinet due to being someone who sat on the bench and never contributed. He deserves those medals.
So despite my love in with the balding Holding, I would also not be too upset to see him leave.
For everything to like about Holding, he does not quite have it to be a top 4 footballer. And that is what Arsenal need right now.
His lack of pace sees him getting caught out when going wide to cover Hector Bellerin, and often means Arsenal have to sit deeper than Mikel Arteta perhaps wants to.
Holding is capable of some immense performances, but he is also liable to many lapses of judgement throughout the season.
Playing for a mid-table team, his immense performances will be more important than his lapses of judgement. But if you are chasing Champions League football, you need defenders who make very few mistakes.
Arsenal have spent £50million on Ben White this summer.
White is quicker than Holding, better positionally and a superior passer. Everything that Arteta wants.
There is a reason why White and not Holding went to the Euro’s this summer.
Holding is the level below White. He would play second fiddle to his fellow Englishman.
Holding has a desire to make the England squad for a major international tournament.
In a recent interview he said:
“When the squads were being announced, I had my eye on it. You never know, so I was looking. It didn’t happen for me this time but that’s not going to deter me or make me feel it’s never going to.”
This summers tournament would have been Holding’s best chance of making an England squad.
With 30 Premier League appearances to his name in 2020/21, 28 starts, he will unlikely never play more football for Arsenal than he did last season.
Playing second fiddle to White will see his game time dramatically reduced and almost guarantee he does not make England’s next World Cup squad.
He would have seen the likes of Conor Coady, White and Tyrone Mings make Gareth Southgate’s squad despite playing for lesser clubs.
Holding will know his best chance of going to Qatar would be to move away from Arsenal and play every league game for the next 18 months .
At 25-years-old, a move away for Arsenal is the only way he will get week in, week out football.
The move would also suit Arsenal.
We currently have too many players; and whilst we have got rid of David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis from last season, we still have one too many defenders.
With no European football, we do not need to carry 5 centre backs and 3 right backs. One must go.
The options to leave would be either Cedric Soares, Calum Chambers or Holding.
If Cedric leaves, Chambers then becomes 2nd choice right back to Hector Bellerin (or his replacement). If Holding leaves, Chambers becomes 4th choice centre back as cover for Ben White. If it is Chambers who goes, Cedric and Holding maintain their positions.
But you can only sell players if there is a buyer.
There will not be too many clubs in for Cedric – who turns 30 at the end of this month. So that gives you a choice between keeping Chambers or Holding.
Taking into account everything that has been said so far, Chambers might be the better option as understudy for White.
Chambers is closer in style of football to White.
He is a good passer of the ball and quicker than Holding.
That means if White is injured, Chambers would probably be the better man to bring in. Playing Chambers would mean we would not have to change our defensive tactics. We would not need the team to drop 10 yards deeper to cover Holding’s lack of pace.
Chambers is a more like for like replacement for White than Holding is.
He is also more versatile – capable of covering right back in an emergency and he could also play a role as 5th choice central midfielder.
When it comes to reducing our centre backs, we also have to look forward 12 months to when William Saliba returns.
If Saliba has a good season in France and continues to develop his game, he will be back in the Arsenal squad next season.
That will leave Arsenal with 6 centre backs once more.
It makes a lot of sense for Arsenal to shed one centre back this summer and then another next – especially as we do not have European football.
Next summer we sell which of Holding or Chambers is still at the club; or Saliba depending on the development of latter.
So if we get an offer for Holding (or Chambers) in the region of £20million this summer, we would be crazy to turn it down as their value will only likely diminish next summer with a year less playing.
The two obvious clubs that could target Holding are Newcastle and Leicester City.
Both sides play with deep defences so Holding would suit their style of play.
Leicester will be in the market for a new centre back following Wesley Fofana’s sickening pre-season injury.
Holding would be an easy deal for them to get done – and Arsenal could potentially use him as part of a deal for James Maddison.
Newcastle are the ones he has been most heavily linked with overnight.
It is actually funny looking at Newcastle Twitter who are slating the deal. Holding would become their best centre back.
Many are saying “if he is not good enough for Arsenal he is not good enough for Newcastle”. This the same fan base who are celebrating signing Joe Willock like it is Lionel Messi.
It is perhaps a level of delusion that Newcastle fans have always had.
They finished 12th last season. And 13th the two previous seasons. They are a relegation battling side, not a European chasing.
We have also seen it with Aston Villa. Them thinking that they are “on par” with Arsenal. Ignoring that our 8th place finish is seen as a failure for us. It would be a huge success for them.
A mid-table side – the likes of Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds United – is exactly the level Holding should be playing at.
Teams like Newcastle should be targeting top sides fringe players.
Not being at the level Arsenal require moving forward does not mean he is not the level that would improve Newcastle.
Like Willock, I would wish Holding all the luck if he moves on.
Rob Holding leaving will be good for the player who has England ambitions, good for Arsenal who would add £20million or so into the coffers and good for whoever he joins who would be getting a solid Premier League centre back. A good deal for all parties.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 