And the straightforward answer is that it's hard to see a position where we're anything like short at the moment.

While defence has been a problem this year, that has been entirely down to a horrific spate of injuries and in the end, the youngsters that have come in have done well enough to compete with the previously established stars.

At right back we have Lauren, Emmanuel Eboue, and Kerrea Gilbert. Will Eboue have done enough to keep Lauren out come the start of the new season? Quite possibly, but while Lauren is on record as recognising the problem he has also recognised the fact that such competition is good for the club and that he wants to stay and fight for his place. It's worth noting that he tended to play in a midfield position for his country, before international retirement. So it's not impossible that he'd be used as central midfield cover while Abou Diaby is out. It wouldn't be surprising to see Gilbert loaned out for the year. He looked very promising indeed in his games last season and Wenger will be keen not to put the brakes on that development.

At left back we have Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy, and now also Mathieu Flamini. Many are still expecting Cole to leave (although Henry's decision to stay maye have helped tipped the balance of probability in the other direction). If he does leave, the question is whether the 2 French youngsters have shown enough to be trusted with the role. I suspect that they have.

At centre back we have Kolo Toure, Philippe Senderos, Sol Campbell, Johan Djourou and Pascal Cygan. Sol had a dodgy season to put it mildly, but the ease (if not pleasure) with with Arsenal fans would greet his departure will have been tempered somewhat by a very strong and goalscoring performance in the Champions League final. Fenerbahce were rumoured to have been talking to Sol about a move to Turkey, rumours which they have denied. We'd probably all like to think that Cygan won't need to be seen again, but as things stand Wenger will probably feel that we have plenty of cover.

And let's not forget that we have Justin Hoyte who impressed in his loan year at Sunderland (I did hear that he won a player of the season vote) where he cemented his flexibility - if he stays then Hoyte could provide cover for both full back positions as well as in central defence. Very handy for the bench.

In midfield, for Gilberto's position we have him, Flamini, Diaby (when he returns from injury) and the possibility of Lauren if Wenger decides to use him that way. Arsenal have also decided to keep Alex Song (although to be frank he hasn't looked quite ready so far) and there's Patrice_Muamba itching to come through.

In the more attacking midfield positions we have, if anything, a glut. Cesc Fabregas, Freddie Ljungberg, Jose Antonio Reyes, Tomas Rosicky, Alexander Hleb, and Robert Pires. It seems likely now that Pires will leave. Even if the rumours are true that Arsenal have been persuaded by Thierry Henry to offer Bobby a 2 year deal, Bobby's time on the pitch will surely be further diminished by the arrivals of Rosicky and Theo Walcott (the latter meaning that Reyes and Robin van Persie might find themselves played more in wing positions than up front with Henry). But there are others who can come in to the wing positions too such as van Persie, Clichy and Cole.

Up front we're looking strong, because we have Henry as well as a variety of options in Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie, Jose Antonio Reyes, Emmanuel Adebayor and Rosicky. We've also got Arturo Lupoli and Nicklas Bendtner. Lupoli has been banging them in for the reserves very consistently but hasn't qute looked the business yet on his few appearances for the first team. Perhaps this will be Bendtner's year to come through, if he gets half a chance alongside that list. He had his U21 international debut for Denmark last week: a 2-0 win over Spain (the same night that Arsenal were losing to Barcelona) in which the young Gunner scored both goals: a header in the box from a free kick, preceded a solo goal in which he took the ball from midfield and past 2 defenders before scoring with a superb shot.

Goalkeeper is one position where we might be looking to strengthen. Jens Lehmann is in fine form but what about the cover? While Manuel Almunia had a good game overall against Barca in difficult circumstances, many feel that Lehmann might have stopped at least one of their goals. But there's still Mart Poom who could be bumped up a position if Wenger feels Almunia's not the best option. It'd be nice to see Poom given a chance, at least.

So, what I'm saying basically is that we have a large and impressive young squad. If there are to be any more big buys this summer, I would expect them only to come as a result of big departures. And even then, we have good cover already and it may be more likely that we'd sign unknown youngsters to bring through.

Of course, that won't stop us from being linked with all and sundry over the next couple of months.