It's no secret where Arsenal wanted to strengthen in the final hours of the transfer market.
The Gunners had already been active in the window bringing in Matt Turner, Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Several players had also left the club with Nicolas Pepe, Bernd Leno and Lucas Torreira among the highest profile stars to depart.
Going into transfer deadline day it had appeared as though this had set the stage perfectly for Arsenal to make a late move for a winger. Mykhaylo Mudryk and Pedro Neto were among the players linked, but right at the last plans had to be changed.
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Injuries to Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny meant that the Gunners suddenly found themselves in need of a midfielder. Edu submitted three late bids in order to try and sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa, but ultimately the Brazilian ended up staying at Villa Park. Despite the failure to sign anyone on transfer deadline day though, the Gunners may well still be active in the coming months.
On Thursday the Premier League squad lists were officially confirmed. Premier League rules stipulate that clubs are allowed to have up to 25 players over the age of 21 in their squads, with at least eight of those needing to be home grown..
Arsenal's squad however, only included 21 players over the age of 21, with just 14 of those counting as home grown. This is because youngsters like William Saliba and Bukayo Saka - who have both been integral to a start to the campaign that has seen Arsenal to the top of the Premier League going into the final round of fixtures before the first international break of the season - count as Under-21 players by virtue of the fact that they were younger than 21 when the year 2022 began.
This means that should they want to Arsenal are in a position where they can go out and explore the possibility of bringing in players on a free transfer prior to the window reopening on January 1st. While this is not exactly common place in the Premier League, we have already seen it in action this season after Wolves made a move to sign former Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
Should the Gunners choose not to bring in anyone though, Mikel Arteta finds himself in a positive position to go in to the January market and recruit. Previously the Spaniard has had to cope with a bloated squad that saw him leave the likes of Mesut Ozil and Sokratis out in the past, but this time around he has no such issues.
This means that should he wish to go back in and sign a midfielder still then he can do so. Luiz will have just six months remaining on his Villa contract and could be an option again, while long-term target Youri Tielemans will be in a similar situation at Leicester. A deal for Palmeiras' Danilo could also be on the cards, with the Brazilian side likely to be far more amenable to selling during what will be their off-season period in January.
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