On Saturday morning Arsenal announced that Nuno Tavares had joined Marseille on a season-long loan deal.
And this decision moves the Gunners manager Mikel Arteta one step closer to avoiding any issues when it comes to naming his Premier League squad for next season and also increases the possibility of at least two more departures before the summer transfer window closes amid links to Youri Tielemans.
A busy summer thus far for Arsenal has seen them recruit five new players in Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko. But as things stand, those signings coupled with the return of several loanees pose a potential squad registration problem.
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After the summer transfer window closes at the beginning of September, the north London outfit will be permitted to name a 25-man squad for the Premier League. From which no more than 17 overseas players can 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).
Right now, the Arsenal players who currently meet the home-grown criteria are Benjamin White, Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding, Aaron Ramsdale, Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson. The reason Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun aren't included is because they are born after January 1, 2001 which makes them eligible to be registered as Under-21 players.
Now of the five summer signings, it is only Marquinhos who will not be taking up a non-homegrown spot in Arsenal's 25-man Premier League squad for next season as the Brazilian teenager can be registered as an Under-21 player who will be eligible throughout the campaign.
Therefore, as things stand - and not including potential sales or arrivals - Bernd Leno, Alex Runarsson, Matt Turner, Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kieran Tierney, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Nicolas Pepe make up the 18 overseas Arsenal players at Arteta's disposal after Nuno Tavares' departure.
This means the Gunners are over the required limit by one. However, with Leno, Torreira, and Pablo Mari among those likely to leave, this issue should be solved fairly soon, thus ensuring the Spaniard won't face a repeat of the situation ahead of the 2020/21 season where he had to omit Mesut Ozil and Sokratis from his squad.
But taking Arsenal's rumoured transfer activity for the remainder of the window into account, coupled with Arteta's admission that he wants more signings - amid links to Tielemans and Lucas Paqueta, for example - they'll need to move even more first-team players on otherwise some will be at risk of not being registered in the Premier League squad for next season.
As a result, Nuno Tavares' exit - albeit a temporary one - has effectively kickstarted Arsenal's process of letting at least two more senior players leave to create space in next season's final Premier League squad when the transfer window slams shut in just over a month's time.
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