Some Quick Thoughts on Squad Size

What are the practical concerns of adding new players to our squad? Here's a quick assessment.


HG = Home Grown
Number in brackets = requires a squad place (ie is over 21 on 01/01/2012)
Minimum 8 HG players required

Core players

Goalkeepers: 
Szczesny (1) HG
Martinez

Defenders: 
Sagna (2)
Vermaelen (3)
Santos (4)
Gibbs (5) HG
Mertesacker (6)
Koscielny (7)
Jenkinson

Midfielders: 
Arteta (8)
Rosicky (9)
Ramsey (10) HG
Frimpong
Coquelin
Song (11) HG
Diaby (12)
Chamberlain
Wilshere

Forwards: 
van Persie (13)
Walcott (14) HG
Gervais (15)
Miyaichi
Podolski (16)

Fringe players 

Vela (17)
Fabianski (18)
Squillaci (19)
Park (20)
Chamakh (21)
Denilson (22)
Mannone (23) HG
Bendtner (24) HG
Arshavin (25)
Djourou (26) HG
-----
Lansbury (squad place needed) HG
Afobe
Bartley
Campbell (no squad place but now too old to be home grown)
Henderson (squad place needed) HG

So, put simply, without considerable departures, our squad is too big. We have 25 overage players but even that in itself is too many: since we don't have 8 overage homegrown players, we will need to cede some squad places. In the 'core' squad, we have five home grown players; thus, if we enter next season without having added any more home grown players, the maximum number of over 21s we can have is 22. Therefore adding Henri Lansbury and Conor Henderson (or indeed any other home grown over 21s) does not significantly affect us; we'd simply go from having a squad of 16 with 6 spaces for foreign over 21s to a squad of 18 with 6 places for additions over 21.

This does grant us a degree of latitude, if – and only if – we can find purchasers for our surplus. And that doesn't even mean getting rid of Diaby.