Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal need to sell 2 for every 1 player they sign

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At the time of writing (Tuesday morning!) Arsenal have 30 players listed on Arsenal.com as senior players. And this is before the incoming Dani Ceballos and Gabriel. Both of which will be confirmed over the next 7 days (unless already done so by the time this is published).

Ceballos and Gabriel joining the club will take it to 32 senior players.

Regardless of Premier League squad rules, 32 senior players is too many.

But then when you take into account Premier League rules:

  • Each squad contains no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the “Home Grown Player” (HGP) criteria.
  • The rest of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be “Home Grown”.
  • Each club squad list is below as well as an additional list of each club’s registered Under-21 players who are eligible over and above the squad limit of 25 players.
  • A “Home-Grown Player” means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
  • For the 2020/21 campaign Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 1999.

A lot of people often get the rules wrong, thinking that you have to name a minimum of 8 home grown players. You do not. You could just name 17 non-home grown players and fill the rest of your squad with U21s.

So when looking at the Arsenal squad for 2020/21, we need to take into account:

  • Who was born on or after 1 January 1999 – these players do not need to be registered
  • Who does not fulfil the HGP criteria

This is what the squad currently looks like:

So before Gabriel or Ceballos is confirmed, we have:

  • 16 non-home grown players
  • 6 home grown players
  • 8 U21 players

This means that under PL rules, we would be fine submitting the squad “as is”. Although this does not remove the issue that 30 senior players is about 5 too many.

But then you add Gabriel & Ceballos to the squad. Both of whom would be registered as non-home grown. That takes Arsenal to 18. 1 too many (and 32 first team squad members).

Straight off the bat, Arsenal would have to sell (or loan out) 1 senior player.

But that only brings the non-home grown element of the squad down to 17 – the maximum we are allowed.

Now we would still be able to buy 2 home grown players without needing to sell – but this would further increase our squad size to 34. We have also not been linked with any home grown players.

So we need to start seeing departures to offset those coming in.

Just to accommodate both Gabriel & Ceballos, we need to sell one. Then if we added Thomas Partey, Houssem Aouar or Coutinho, we would basically need to sell “like for like”. With Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny or Mesut Ozil leaving to make space.

Remember, Matteo Guendouzi is U21, so selling him will not free up a squad place.

We could not go and sign Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar and sell Lucas Torreira and Guendouzi to make space. We would have to shift someone other than Guendouzi.

So for non-home grown purchases, if we sign Gabriel, Ceballos and 2 more, we would have to sell (or loan) 3 non-home grown players to stay within the rules (or as someone pointed out, we could just not register Mesut Ozil!).

There are obvious suspects: Sokratis, Sead Kolasinac, Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny.

But selling “like for like” would still leave Arsenal with close to 30 first team players. At most we need 25/26.

So on top of the 4 we would sell to make space for the 4 we would buy, we would need to sell at least another 4 to bring us down to a first team squad of 26.

Now before some smart arse says “you can only have a squad of 25”, remember, U21 do not need to be registered.

So looking at the squad, Arsenal will need to sell or loan out at least 8 players if they wish to make 4 purchases. This ensures they stay within Premier League squad rules and reduce the bloated squad.

  • Sokratis
  • Lucas Torreira
  • Mohamed Elneny
  • Matteo Guendouzi
  • Mesut Ozil
  • Alexandre Lacazette
  • Rob Holding
  • Calum Chambers

That 8 names on the lsit are fairly clear and obvious, with only Shkodran Mustafi perhaps being sold ahead, or as well as, Chambers and Holding.

That would take us down to just 4 home-grown players. But this is not an issue as you are not required to name 8 home-grown players.

Arsenal would also be watchful on 2021/22 when the likes of Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah have to be registered as will no longer be U21.

So expect 8 sales (or loans) to occur before the transfer window shuts on 5th October, as old players make way for new.

Keenos

Why is Arsenal “midfield saviour” now at a career crossroads?

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Upon arriving from Sampdoria two summers ago, Lucas Torreira was heralded as the man to fill the void in Arsenal’s midfield as a tough tackling, tenacious ball-winner. He was the midfield saviour.

For a while, he was exactly that, excelling with five consecutive Man of the Match performances during the Gunners’ 22-game unbeaten run at the start of the 2018-19 season.

Sadly, Torreira struggled to replicate those consistent, high-quality displays after being shifted inexplicably into a more advanced role under Unai Emery. The endless tactical tinkering of Torreira’s position knocked the Uruguayan’s confidence, which he is yet to regain. 

Read on below for our breakdown of what Mikel Arteta should do with Torreira as he embarks on a rigorous rebuild at Arsenal.

Initially a regular feature in Arteta’s starting XI after the Spaniard took over at Arsenal in December, Torreira was used more and more sparingly as the season progressed. An ankle injury suffered at Portsmouth in March saw him sidelined for four months but, after working his way back to full fitness, Torreira started only one of six possible Premier League matches. 

His absence can be explained by the emergence of Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka as a central midfield pairing in a 3-4-3, Arteta’s preferred system throughout Project Restart. 

Ceballos, who initially struggled to settle on loan from Real Madrid, put in some instrumental performances as a deep-lying playmaker. These were most notable in the FA Cup, where he scored the winner in the quarter-final and was one of Arsenal’s key players in the final, helping the Gunners to lift the trophy for a record 14th time. 

Xhaka, after the ugly incident that saw him booed off the pitch against Crystal Palace in October, has been a revelation under Arteta. Able to control games with his accurate range of passing, the Swiss international has enjoyed a renaissance at Arsenal when it previously looked like he would never play another game for the club. 

This leaves Torreira as the lone jazz record in a collection otherwise full of opera. 

Arteta has attempted to restructure a midfield that was left in ruins following Emery’s chaotic attempt at implementing a gegenpress. This fits Xhaka and Ceballos perfectly. Both are very functional players who can be reliable and dependable in 

Arteta’s 3-4-3. 

Torreira however, is more of a wild card who can win tackles, harass opponents and shuttle energetically from box to box. This explains his aforementioned success under Emery, where Arsenal looked to counter-press opponents far more regularly. Playing in a high-tempo system, Torreira was far more effective. 

The 24-year-old would not be the ideal player to fulfil a holding role in the variant of the 

4-3-3 that Arteta oversaw with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. His lack of positional awareness as he seeks to win back possession leaves him vulnerable at times, meaning he would be useful next to Xhaka, who could sit in front of the back four, in a 4-2-3-1. Should Arteta be willing to give this shape another chance, then Torreira could play a pivotal role in that system. 

Presently, Torreira’s chances of being a regular starter at Arsenal are slim, and he has attracted interest from multiple clubs in Italy. Arteta used a three-man defence in the recent friendly against MK Dons, and is thought to favour that system moving forward, leaving no space for the diminutive midfielder. 

However, the unfruitful attempts to secure the services of Ceballos from Real Madrid, as well as Thomas Partey from neighbours Atletico, mean that Arsenal should hold fire before sanctioning the sale of Torreira.

Zac Campbell

Gabriel transfer to Arsenal to be confirmed following 14 day “cooling off” period

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The COVID19 pandemic will give rise to a whole new loads of clauses in players contracts, and the deals between clubs.

Yesterday the transfer of Henrik Mkhitaryan to Roma was finally announced by Arsenal.

It was back at the end of June that the deal was apparently agreed, so it unusual that it took nearly 2 months for the “ink to dry” on a fairy easy to complete deal.

Also yesterday, Serie A announces that their season will officially start on September 19th.

The two bits of news breaking on the same day got me thinking.

Was part of the agreement between Arsenal and Roma that the “deal would only be confirmed once a Serie A have announced a start date for the 2020/21 season.”

This clause would protect Roma from signing a player before the confirmation of the forthcoming season. They would have been worried that had the deal gone through, and for whatever reason the 2020/21 Serie A season is further delayed, they would be paying a salary for a new player without games to play.

On the same train of thought, Arsenal’s deal for Gabriel is still her to be conformed. Could this be due to a COVID19 clause?

With people having the quarantine for 14 days coming in from France, Arsenal might have inserted a clause in the deal with Lille that the “transfer of Gabriel will only be confirmed following a 14 day cooling off period and negative Coronavirus test”.

COVID19 is a virus that attacks the lungs.

Imagine the scenario where Arsenal (or any other club) signs a player from France, and then 10 days after signing is admitted to hospital with COVID19.

The player is then on a ventilator, with the virus attacking his lungs.

With many people who contacted COVID19 months ago still reporting suffering with breathing problems, Arsenal could end up with a player who might never play for he club due to lung issues.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1300489561332645888?s=21

To protect themselves, Arsenal might be insisting that the Gabriel transfer has a “14 day cooling off period” between when it was agreed and when it is announced just to ensure he did not arrive with COVID19.

Remember, a COVID19 test does not confirm you have the virus, just that the virus is active within your body. The virus can take up to 14 days to activate and show symptoms (hence the 14 day quarantine).

Whilst Gabriel might not actually be quarantining (he has had his medical, etc), they might have decided on that 14 day cooling off period to protect their finances.

Note: David Ornstein has now confirmed that the delay on Gabriel’s transfer is due to him going under quarantine

Keenos