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There has been quite a bit of speculation about some of the older players in the squad that would be leaving, and if Yossi Benayoun is to be believed he will likely be one of them. About an hour ago, Benayoun tweeted the following:
%20#C0DEED;padding:20px;%7D%20p.bbpTweet%7Bbackground:#fff;padding:10px%2012px%2010px%2012px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px%20!important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px%7D%20p.bbpTweet%20span.metadata%7Bdisplay:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px%20solid%20#fff;border-top:1px%20solid%20#e6e6e6%7D%20p.bbpTweet%20span.metadata%20span.author%7Bline-height:19px%7D%20p.bbpTweet%20span.metadata%20span.author%20img%7Bfloat:left;margin:0%207px%200%200px;width:38px;height:38px%7D%20p.bbpTweet%20a:hover%7Btext-decoration:underline%7Dp.bbpTweet%20span.timestamp%7Bfont-size:12px;display:block%7D</style>%20<div%20class='bbpBox108126213524029440'><p%20class='bbpTweet'>%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%99%20%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%90%20%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%9F%20%D7%A2%D7%9D%20%D7%9B%D7%9E%D7%94%20%D7%A7%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%AA...%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA%20%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%20negotiating%20with%20several%20team...news%20soon...<span%20class='timestamp'><a%20title='Mon%20Aug%2029%2010:37:52%20+0000%202011'%20href='http://twitter.com/#!/YossiBenayoun15/status/108126213524029440'>less%20than%20a%20minute%20ago</a>%20via%20web%20<a%20href='http://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=108126213524029440'><img%20src=){kind=link}
אני במשא ומתן עם כמה קבוצות...חדשות בקרוב negotiating with several team...news soon...less than a minute ago via web 
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Yossi Benayoun
YossiBenayoun15
This seems pretty cut and dry. First, Yossi is asked to give up his shirt to incoming Juan Mata. Second, Benayoun himself tells us that he's negotiating with other clubs. I don't think there is any question now that Yossi is out the door, and I can't say I'll be overly upset by the departure as long as he's replaced by somebody.
This does open up some interesting questions though. We know we have Michael Essien's roster spot to play with, and we know that AVB doesn't feel we have enough midfielders. This potentially leaves us with two non-homegrown roster spots and one less midfielder than we had this morning. If I had to guess, this would indicate that we either know we have a deal done for a player or AVB feels confident enough in Gael Kakuta and Josh McEachran that he doesn't feel Benayoun offers an upgrade to either. The next 51 hours will be interesting...