Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » Sky reveal exclusively Arsenal will sign at least six more first team players
According to Sky with its story, “Wenger steps up preparations” Arsenal are going to have to sell players to make space in the squad, because of the 25 player rule.
They say,
Meanwhile, Wenger has hinted that he may look to move a few players on this summer, with new Premier League regulations stipulating that top flight sides must work with 25-man squads, with eight of those players having to qualify as home-grown.
They then go on to say that Wenger said he would have to sell to fit everyone in.
Untold Arsenal has been reporting on the 25 rule and analysing the situation month by month – and of course I am sure that a news organisation as eminent and trustworthy as Sky with all its billions of Murdochian money behind it, it knows what it is talking about.
The official detail from the league on the 25 rule is here and there is a simple run down of exactly how it all works at the end of this article including what “home grown” means and how overseas players can be “home grown” at the same time.
So to look forward to the six new players, here’s the list, and here’s why we know it has to be six…
Our current “25″ squad….
1 Almunia
2 Fabianski
3 Mannone (Home Grown Player No 1)
4 Sagna
5 Eboue
6 Vermaelen
7 Djourou (Home Grown Player No 2)
8 Clichy (Home Grown Player No 3)
9 Song (Home Grown Player No 4)
10 Denilson (Home Grown Player No 5)
11 Diaby
12 Fabregas (Home Grown Player No 6)
13 Rosicky
14 Arshavin
15 Nasri
16 van Persie
17 Eduardo
18 Bendtner (Home Grown Player No 7)
19 Chamakh
20. Koscielny
Places 21-25 are currently vacant for players over 21. If all five places are filled one of these will have to be a home grown player. If Campbell were to re-sign for us he would count as the Home Grown player we need.
Now you may be wondering what has happened to Theo, Traore, Gibbs, Jack W, and the rest. The fact is they don’t count in the 25 because they are all under age.
I’ll come back to the kiddies in a moment, but the key thing is that Wenger has five spaces available for players over 21, only one of whom has to be “home grown”. So clearly he is going to fill those five places first. Which means if we have to sell a player to make room, that means we must be buying at least six players over 21 years old!
Amazing!
The only other explanation for Sky’s story is that we might be holding onto Simpson who is home grown but is now over 21. Let’s say that’s the case and that we sign Campbell again, they could be numbers 21 and 22. That leaves three spaces – and that would mean we could sign three more and be in the rules – anything after that and we need to sell one of the 25.
So even with Campbell signing and Simpson staying, if we have to sell one player as Sky says then we will be buying four. Four new players plus Campbell and Simpson.
Wow!
There is a further explanation – but it really is a bit too silly to contemplate. It could just be that Sky are such a bunch of debilitated drongos that they don’t actually know about or understand the “25″ rule and so don’t realise that we have loads of room free on our list.
But no, this is a serious national broadcaster who has the rights to most EPL games. The EPL wouldn’t sell their rights to a firm that doesn’t even know the rules.
Would it?
Anyway, back on planet Earth, the under 21 year olds who don’t count in the “25″ are below. No limit on numbers who can be on this list and I think many of us expect a few additions. But here’s the list we had based on last season (they have to be under 21 on 1 Jan 2010). The Home Grown issue is not relevant on this list, but I have included it as a guide to what happens when they are 21.
1 Szczcesny 19 Home Grown 2 Gibbs 20 Home Grown 3 Traore 20 Home Grown 4 Eastmond 19 Home Grown 5 Ramsey 19 Home Grown 6 Wilshere 18 Home Grown 7 Walcott 20 Home Grown
8 Vela 20
Now we might care to add, at least,
- Frimpong
- Emmanuel Thomas
- Lansbury
- Wellington Silva after January
The rules
Squad registration list must be submitted at the end of the transfer window: 31 August 2010, and then again on 31 January 2011.
Squad size limit – Maximum 25 players over 21 years. No limit for under-21 players.
Age definition – 1 January of the season’s starting year. 1 January 2010 for the 2010/11 season.
Home-grown quota – 8 of the 25 squad places can only be filled with home-grown players. Thus, only 17 foreign-grown players (over 21 years) are allowed.
Home-grown (1) age – All club registrations before the age of 21 (at the end of the season).
Home-grown (2) home – All clubs registered with the English or Welsh FA.
Home-grown (3) length – Minimum period of 3 seasons or 36 months (continuous or not).
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