Why Arsenal must sell before buying

This summer’s repeat exercise of an Arsenal squad summary is a reflection of the manager’s gentle reminder here. The Premier League squad rule must be respected. 25 senior players can be registered and used. A limitless number of U21 players can make up the numbers.

There are three rules:

1. Of the 25 players permitted in a Premier League first team squad, at least 8 - eight - need to be "home grown", i.e. registered with an English or Welsh club for at least three years before turning 21.

Arsenal have Bendtner, Djourou, Gibbs, Mannone, Song and Walcott. That’s six.

The 1990 generation, who are no longer U21s, are Ramsey, Eastmond, Lansbury and Szczesny. That’s four. So even if Eastmond and Lansbury leave, permanently or on loan as has been expected, Arsenal have eight home-grown players.

Since the end of last season, Vela and Botelho have left, while Denilson has been loaned out and will not take part in the coming league campaign.

2. A maximum of 17 players can be foreigners over the age of 21.

With 10 homegrown players, Arsenal still need to restrict the total number of players over 21 to 25. So if Eastmond and Lansbury stay, there are 15 places in the squad for foreigners.

Arsenal currently have Arshavin, Arteta, Chamakh, Diaby, Fabianski, Gervinho, Giroud, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Park, Podolski, Rosicky, Sagna, Santos, Squillaci, van Persie and Vermaelen. That makes for 17 players.

While Nasri, Eboue, Benayoun and Almunia have left since these maths last appeared on this blog,  27 players remain in total. Someone has to go. More about that later.

First Arsenal's great advantage:

3. A limitless number of players under 21 years of age (at the start of the calendar year) can be registered.

The following Arsenal players are born in 1991: Bartley, Coquelin, Henderson, Shea and Watt.

1992: Boateng, Frimpong, Galindo, Jenkinson, Martinez, Meade, Miquel and Wilshere.

1993: Afobe, Aneke, Eisfeld, Hajrovic, Neita and Yennaris.

While some of these players will continue their development in the Reserves or out on loan, they are others who are already established first-teamers and indeed internationals. Arsenal are renowned for the strength of their youth teams.

Now what?

The main transfer saga this season, Robin van Persie's departure to - allegedly - Manchester or Turin, rumbles on. His new teammate Lukas Podolski is even holding out for his number 10 shirt. While Arsène Wenger still officially wants his captain to remain, it's likely to be phrases intended to hike up his asking price.

Meanwhile, Andrei Arshavin is said to be negotiating with teams on the Arab peninsula, a last payday for a 31-year-old.

And Nicklas Bendtner keeps being linked with any and every team in Europe. Whether his own demands or Arsenal's seem to hinder any bid from anyone isn't known. So far this summer the Dane has been linked with 13 clubs in the media. That's still short of last summer's incredible haul of 21 clubs, before he ended up with Sunderland on loan. Perhaps his agents are being a little bit more discreet this year?

Anyway, if - a big if - all of these three leave still only one place is freed up in the Premier League squad. Bendtner's status as "home grown" wouldn't mean much as Henri Lansbury or Craig Eastmond make up the numbers if at least one of them stays.

But were Bendtner, Lansbury and Eastmond all to leave, Arsenal would still need to shed two foreigners to have a squad in keeping with Premier League rules.

Whether there will be any room in the roster at all, and whether it will be filled by Santi Cazorla or anyone else of the more than 150 players linked this summer, remains to be seen.

Vela is the first to leave

La Liga side Real Sociedad have confirmed that Carlos Vela signs on a permanent deal from Arsenal. The Mexican striker spent last season on loan in Spain, and built quite the rapport with club and fans. His move is the first of several expected from the Arsenal first-team squad, seemingly under re-building.

Much as us Gooners love a signing coming in, the club now need squad players and deadwood being signed by others. Vela is the first sale this Silly Season that can expect to have some financial impact. His wages are off the payroll and the fee is likely to be a few million pounds. (Or undisclosed, as arsenal.com likes to put it.)

The next sale may very well be Robin van Persie. Different media report that the wantaway captain will have talks with the club this week, without a date having been set. My hunch is that any remaining hope of him staying would lead to this date having been set today. It's more likely that Arsenal are collecting bids (they're numerous if Sky Sports are to be believed) and will present van Persie which they will accept, and he will have to choose from.

The memories of last summer should encourage the club to close a sale as soon as possible.

It will be a lot harder to shift the other strikers on the flip side of the team sheet. Chu-Young Park has openly admitted that no offer has come in for him. Marouane Chamakh goes through the motions of pre-season, with Fiorentina and any French interested clubs scared off by his wage demands. Much the same has happened with the French teams wanting to take Sebastién Squillaci on board.

Like Vela last year, the best Arsenal can hope for is to hope they can interest teams at a lower level enough - and loan them out before the transfer window shuts.

There are others with futures in the balance. While Kyle Bartley has been promoted to the first team squad, players like Henri Lansbury, Craig Eastmond and Conor Henderson must fight to make the same leap. One or two of them may well leave Arsenal permanently before the season starts.

As for the goalkeepers, their collective knack of getting injured at the worst possible time has struck again. Lukasz Fabianski missed the Euros on home soil, and now misses out on any interest. The chance of him leaving permanently or on loan seems to be gone for the summer. Which is bad news for Vito Mannone, who at least has suitors and a fan base in the form of Hull City. But his exit is likely to be dependant on Fabianski's injury situation. Arsenal won't gladly sell their third choice goalie when the second choice is crocked.

Panic or bargains?

Deadline day brought an almost unprecedented number of new first team players to Arsenal. Others have left, primarily on loan.

As the formal deadline passed, manager Arsène Wenger had added André Santos, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun to the squad. The ubiquitous "long term deals for undisclosed fees" is out on the website. Arteta, Santos and Mertesacker have signed permanent deals, while the Israeli forward joins on loan from Chelsea.

This strengthening on the very last day of the Silly Season is not typical of Wenger at all. Several papers have called it "panic" today. It can't really be judged until the signings have settled in and played. However, the fact that Arteta at 29 now has signed for four seasons does imply that Arsenal haven't held the upper hand throughout the negotiations.

Several sources say that Everton turned down a bid of Nicklas Bendtner plus cash, holding out for the lump sum of £10m. After having a quick think about it, Wenger looks to have agreed.

Bendtner joins Sunderland on loan instead. After stating and repeating all summer that he wanted to leave for a top club, he ends up in the middle of the Premier League table. The biggest downer for anyone leaving Arsenal since Sol Campbell "went abroad" to Portsmouth.

Meanwhile, Joel Campbell is sent on loan to Lorient in Ligue 1 after failing to gain a British work permit. The Costa Rican is joined by Gilles Sunu, who leaves Arsenal permanently to join Lorient, where he impressed on loan last season.

Henri Lansbury has gone back to the Championship on loan, signed by - of all people! - Sam Allardyce of West Ham.

The rumour page is updated now, even if arsenal.com is down and I haven't read a proper confirmation of Arteta's transfer. I choose to believe the Press Association and Sky Sports, however, both having their hands on Arsenal's official press release.

I'll post a summary of this Silly Season in a day or two. Then the blog will go in hibernation again... until the January window approaches.