Arsenal Names 76 Players in 25-Man Squad

Yesterday was the deadline for Premier League squads to submit their squad lists to the FA under a number of new restrictions. Players not named in the squad now cannot play in a league or FA Cup match between now and the close of the January transfer window (i.e. the next time such a squad list must be submitted.) Here are the restrictions:

• Each 25-man list must contain eight "home grown" players, that is, players over the age of 21 who have spent three full seasons training in England or Wales before their 21st birthday.
• Teams are allowed an unlimited number of "under-21" players. Players born on or after January 1, 1989 do not need to be listed (i.e. turned 21 this calendar year.)
• If your senior squad does not contain the maximum 25 players, you are permitted to name fewer than eight home grown players.
• Basically, a better way of phrasing the numbers: you can list up to 25 players on your senior squad, but no matter the size of your list, no more than 17 of your players can be "non-home grown."
• Changes cannot be made to the list except in crisis situations (like, you've managed to run out of goalkeepers somehow and need to get bailed out, like City did last year.)
• The squad list does not affect the Carling Cup or European competition.

Arsène Wenger has been a strong critic of the rule, despite the fact that Arsenal had no major problem complying. The theory is that the squad restrictions on where your players have trained in the past will have a positive effect on the English national team, but Wenger has said, "from 1966 to 1996 this country won absolutely nothing. England won nothing and they had not one foreign player [in the league]. How has it changed?"

It's a bit clear that Wenger decided to have a little fun with this list when all was said and done. Since there's no restriction on the number of under-21 players you can list in the squad, Wenger decided to submit an official list which includes everybody in the Arsenal system. In addition, while Arsenal's senior squad has 13 players who qualify as "home grown," many of them are under-21 and don't need to be named anyway. The result is a senior squad list which includes 20 players instead of the maximum 25, and of that 20, seven are home grown players, none of which were born in England. So, to recap:

• The full squad list that Arsenal submitted to the FA, including under-21 players who do not count against the limitations, ultimately includes 76 players.
• Players who are out on loan apparently are still listed.
• Arsenal's senior squad contains only 13 non-home grown players, well below the 17 limit.

Reading user comments about the lists on the tabloid's Web sites has, of course, infuriated me over the idiocy of some people, who have their own interpretations of the rule. For example, there are those who shout against the fact that Arsenal's home grown players are still foreign, ignoring the fact that some of England's brightest young talents like Walcott, Wilshere, and Gibbs don't need to be listed as they fit on the under-21 list. Then, there was the case of the Spurs fan misinterpreting the rule and ranting about how Arsenal could have possibly gotten away with listing only seven home grown players, then gloats about how Spurs comfortably fit in the limit. FYI, Chelsea named only four on their 19-man list.

Without further ado, here is Arsenal's squad, with the seven foreign "home grown" players in bold:

• Goalkeepers: Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Vito Mannone
• Defenders: Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Gael Clichy, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, Sebastien Squillaci
• Midfielders: Abou Diaby, Alex Song, Denilson, Tomas Rosicky, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri
• Forwards: Andrei Arshavin, Robin van Persie, Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner
• Under-21 players who do not count against the senior squad limits: Benik Afobe, Chukwuemeka Aneke, Martin Angha, Zak Ansah, Nacer Barazite, Kyle Bartley, Samir Bihmoutine, Daniel Boateng, Pedro Botelho, George Brislen-Hall, Alban Bunjaku, James Campbell, Reice Charles-Cook, Francis Coquelin, Thomas Cruise, Roarie Deacon, Craig Eastmond, Kyle Ebecilio, James Edge, Jay-Aston Emmanuel-Thomas, Cedric Evina, Luke Freeman, Emmanuel Frimpong, Samuel Galindo, Kieran Gibbs, Benjamin Glasgow, Sead Hajrovic, Conor Henderson, Gavin Hoyte, Henri Lansbury, Damain Martinez, Sean McDermott, Jernade Meade, Ignasi Miquel-Pons, Jeffrey Monakana, Elton Monteiro, Rhys Murphy, Havard Nordtveit, Nigel Spence-Neita, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Aaron Ramsey, Mark Randall, Joshua Rees, Philip Roberts, James Shea, Steven Smith, Gilles Sunu, Wojciech Szczesny, Armand Traore, Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott, Sanchez Watt, Callum Webb, Jack Wilshere, Jordan Wynter, Nicholas Yennaris

Well played, Arsène. Well played.