Squad Analysis

[AKBapologist]

Rules
http://www.premierleague.com/page/He...094341,00.html


Information derived from a list of sources including
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal...rst-team_squad
http://www.arsenal.com/first-team/players
http://www.premierleague.com
http://www.skysports.com/football/tr...201107,00.html

(strike outs donate players who have declared there intentions to, or are likely to leave this season, grey indicate players who are speculated to leave.)
Homegrown players over the age of 21
Nicklas Bendtner
Denilson
Johan Djourou
Cesc Fabregas
Vito Mannone
Gael Clichy
Alex Song
Carlos Vela
Theo Walcott
Armand Traore
Kieran Gibbs

Non homegrown players
Manuel Almunia
Andrey Arshavin
Marouane Chamakh
Abou Diaby
Emmanuel Eboue
Lukasz Fabianski
Laurent Koscielny
Samir Nasri
Tomas Rosicky
Bacary Sagna
Robin Van Persie
Thomas Vermaelen
Sebastien Squillaci

Under 21's looking to break into the first team (Age by Jan 1st 2012, Players with a first team contract in bold)
Benik Afobe (18)
Chuks Aneke (18)
Kyle Bartley (20)
Ryo Myachi (18)
Francis Coquelin (20)
Craig Eastmond (21)
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (21)
Emmanuel Frimpong (19)
Conor Henderson (20)
Gavin Hoyte (21)
Henri Lansbury (20)
Aaron Ramsey (21)
Wojciech Szczesny (21)
Sanchez Watt (20)
Jack Wilshere (19)
Carl Jenkinson (19)
Welington (18)
Ignasi Miquel (18)

(of note)
Hector Bellerin (16)
Jon Toral (16)


Home Grown Players Total: 11 (At least 8 is required in a 25 man squad)
Home Grown Players minus likely departures: 7

None-homegrown players: 13 (17 is the limit)
None-Homegrown players minus likely departures: 9

Current Squad size: 24
Current squad size minus likely departures: 16


Size?
Last season, we were 4 senior players short of our quota, relying on players like walcott and whilshire for major parts of the season. In addition, Vermaelen was out for the entire season reducing the effective senior squad size to 20, far, far less than our rivals. For me, this more than anything else (metal strength, experience etc etc) was the reason why we ran out of steam towards the business end of last season.

This season could potentially see us lose 10 from our senior squad! That is the worst case scenario, but even if only half that many left, it would be Arsenals biggest overhaul of the senior squad in a single season during the EPL era.

It's a tricky picture to balance, one the one hand - if you wanted to be as ruthless as possible, you would make sure you filled your 25 senior squad members. But at Arsenal, we have to consider the 5 who will no longer be under 21 before the start of the 2012/2013 next season, 4 of which are on senior contracts already and two of which are first team regulars.


What's the maximum number of players we could buy this summer?
With the current squad size of 24, and with Ramsey and Szczesny a season away from joining the senior portion of the squad, we'd realistically have to sell 2 players before we could receive any new additions.

However, with the list of leavers this season anywhere between 4 and 8 players long, there could certainly be room for a whole host of signings. For instance, given the now, very likely scenario of Bendtner, Denilson, Fabregas, Clichy, Almunia and Nasri, our squad could comfortably afford room for 4 new signings.


What do we need to strengthen?
There is no real easy answer to this. The questions you must first ask before producing priorities include, Quality or Quantity? How will we be set up to play? How will we rotate? Who from the reserves or under 21's can you realistically count on to do a job? Most of these questions are highly subjective however consensus does points towards a darth of quality in two key areas:
- A defender with EPL experience, good in the air and potentially an improvement over any we currently have.
- A striker, as good as RVP or better.

With likely departures considered however, it's likely we'd need to strengthen in every area of the pitch.

In addition, if many reports are deemed to believed, AW may be either changing or adding to the style of play, with wing play, crossing and pace being a higher priority. Which may explain our interest for players such as Mata, Gervinho, Hazard, Willian, De Costa and Falcao, who either play as advanced wingers, or with them.


All in all, AW must not, and probably can not use the lack of departures this season as an excuse for not signing quality players. Players that no longer desire to remain at the club may as well be ushered out, as beyond squad harmony, we are unable to strengthen without player departures. And then age old question remains however - will AW bring in the required quality in a transfer market gone mad?

In less than 6 weeks we will find out.