As most will be aware the Premier League are operating under a new squad system in which:-
A squad of 25 players aged over 21 on Jan 1 2010 must be named at the end of August.
of whom eight must be home-grown "A home-grown player will be defined as one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the Season during which he turns 21).?"
Clubs will be able to supplement their squads with unlimited additional players under the age of 21 on 1st January 2010
So it seems that in assessing our squad that we need to do so in the light of the rules - which will also give an idea of who is likely to leave as I think we currently have a squad of 27, plus a number of under-21'a on the fringe. With 12 players who will be defined as home grown. Hence we can only afford to lose 4 HG players and for all players 3 must go and then it has to be one in one out.
In addition Europa Cup requires that we have 4 Club trained (CT) players - having spent 3 years at City from age 15-21 - we only have 5 of those so can only afford to lose 1 of them.
I'm assuming the current squad is:-
Goalkeepers - interesting to see how many are listed in the final version of the squad and what will happen in a similar situation to Given's injury [edit 28 July, we know now that they will be allowed to replace a Goalkeeper in such circumstances]
Given (HG)
Hart (HG)
Taylor (HG)
[Nielsen] on loan until January
Gonzales
Defenders
Boateng
Lescott (HG)
Bridge (HG)
[Onuoha (HG)(CT)] on loan for season
Richards (HG)(CT)
Kolo
Zabaleta
Kolarov
Kompany
Logan
u-21
Boyata
Cunningham
Vidal
Mee
Midflield
A Johnson (HG)
Silva
Barry (HG)
Viera
Yaya
De Jong
Ireland (HG)(CT)
M Johnson (HG)(CT)
SWP (HG)(CT)
u-21
Ibrahim
Weiss
Tutte (on loan at Rochdale until January)
Kay
Forwards
Adebayor
Bellamy (HG)
Robinho
RSC
Tevez
Jo
u-21
Nimely
Ballotelli
We do also have listed on the official site players like Caicedo, Etuhu, who under these rules have to already be regarded as surplus to requirements.
[Edited 28 July: to add some u-21 players who have been given games on US tour]
[Edited 30 July to remove Garrido, squad = 28]
[Edited 11 August to move Kompany from Midfield to Defence. play with headers, send Onouha on loan and as he has been included in the UEFA squad, add Logan to the defence, squad still =28]
[Edited 14 August to add Balotelli, squad still = 28]