Arsenal could be closing in on the signing of Dusan Vlahovic.
If reports from Italy are to be believed, the Gunners have seen their stunning offer of €80million (£66.6million) plus bonuses for the Serbia international accepted by the Serie A outfit.
Should this be the case, then all that stands in the way of Vlahovic becoming an Arsenal player is agreeing on personal terms, passing a medical and signing his contract.
In the scenario that this deal does get completed before the end of the month, how would his arrival affect the north London outfit in terms of bringing in more players amid links to Arthur Melo and Youri Tielemans, whilst adhering to the Premier League rules?
Well, the Gunners and the other 19 Premier League teams were permitted to name 25-man squads after the summer transfer window had closed at the beginning of September.
From which no more than 17 overseas players could be named with the remaining eight places available to homegrown members of the squad.
To be considered home-grown, players need to have been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Welsh FA for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
With Ainsley Maitland-Niles joining AS Roma earlier in the month, the Gunners now have five home-grown players in the squad as Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding, Benjamin White, Calum Chambers and Aaron Ramsdale take up those spots.
In fact, Arsenal named a 21-man squad as the likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli weren't required to be named in the 25-man list.
This is because, as per Premier League rules: "An Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences.
"Under-21 players are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad. For the 2021/22 campaign, Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 2000."
As Vlahovic was born on 28 January 2000, if he was to join Arsenal before the current transfer window closes, just like Saka, Martinelli and Smith Rowe, he too wouldn't have to be registered.
Furthermore, following Sead Kolasinac's departure this week, the Gunners' squad now contains 14 players who are classed as non-homegrown, therefore they can still register two overseas players this month as the limit is 17.
Amid links to Arthur, Bruno Guimaraes, Georginio Wijnaldum and Youri Tielemans, Vlahovic's potential move won't impact Arsenal's plans, if they have any, to sign at least one of the aforementioned quartet.
Interestingly the Gunners had registration problems last season, due to the size of their squad.
Firstly Arteta was forced to exclude Mesut Ozil and Sokratis from his Premier League and Europa League squads for the 2020/21 campaign and the pair ended up leaving in the winter transfer window a year ago.
Meanwhile, Martin Odegaard - who arrived on loan from Real Madrid - was only able to take the remaining non-homegrown spot in the Premier League squad after Shkodran Mustafi joined Schalke.
Fast forward a year and Arsenal have already avoided a situation with regards to another high-profile squad omission as Vlahovic's potential arrival will not affect anything.
