A new under 21 cup, plus 8 other competitions, and Arsenal’s “25”

By Tony Attwood

Because of my little trip to Guernsey I missed doing Arsenal’s nominated 25 player list for the first half of the season which at first sight is looking a bit thin.  In that it only contains 21 players

  1. Arteta Amatriain, Mikel 
  2. Bendtner, Nicklas (English)
  3. Cazorla, Santiago 
  4. Diaby, Vassiriki Abou 
  5. Fabianski, Lukasz 
  6. Flamini, Mathieu 
  7. Gibbs, Kieran James Ricardo (English)
  8. Giroud, Olivier 
  9. Koscielny, Laurent 
  10. Mertesacker, Per 
  11. Monreal, Ignacio 
  12. Ozil, Mesut 
  13. Park, Chu Young 
  14. Podolski, Lukas 
  15. Ramsey, Aaron James (Welsh)
  16. Rosicky, Tomas 
  17. Sagna, Bacary 
  18. Szczesny, Wojciech Tomasz 
  19. Vermaelen, Thomas 
  20. Viviano, Emiliano 
  21. Walcott, Theo James (English)

The maximum of non-“home grown” players is 17 – we have 13 (you know the rules about this – it doesn’t mean they actually are English).  Players under 21 are not included, and Arsenal habitually list all their under 21 players in the first team list, presumably just for the hell of it.  And we have Park and Bendtner included – I would be surprised if they get a game, but if Old Nic can’t get a loan then he could play in our league cup games I suppose.

And speaking of outsiders, if we take a look at the competitions Arsenal play in, beyond the regular four for the big boys, it is getting bigger year by year, not to say a little confusing.

Or at least a little confusing for me, which is why I thought I’d try and sort it out.  (That’s rather like blogging myself, I know, but well, I’m a bit slow these days…)

First off there is the Premier Academy League for under 18 teams.  Then there is the Barclays under 21 Premier League.  Those are both 22 club strong leagues.

Then we have the Uefa Champions League for under 19s.  We are in a group with Marseille, Napoli and B. Dortmund in the first phase.

Then there is the FA Youth Cup where we enter in the third round proper later in the year.  So that is four competitions.  And now we have the fifth competition

The Premier League is launching an under-21 cup competition.  And here’s a bit of interesting news, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham are already out of the it – having decided not to take part.   But 51 academies are involved including ourselves, Chelsea,  and Manchester City.

To compete the clubs have to play their games in stadia, rather than at training grounds.  Which mean we could play at Barnet’s current ground I guess.

As far as I can tell we come in, in round three, in the southern section, with the clubs that have made it through rounds 1 and 2, and  Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Norwich, Reading, Southampton, and West Ham.

Presumably what all this means is lots of games for our younger players, which personally I am old enough to think is a “good thing”.  That means seeing the likes of Martinez, Bellerin, Boateng, Eisfeld, Yennaris, Afobe and Akpom (if not already out on loan somewhere and I missed it while I was on holiday – Aneke, Miquel and Gallando are the ones showing as absent at present), and even Wellington, if he’s allowed here yet.

And that’s before I get to Zelalem and Gnabry who are now counted as first team players – but are too young to be on the “25” list.

Arsenal’s Anniversaries for 9 September

(The Anniversary File is now split in two, because of its size.  January to Juneand July to December)

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The books…

 

 

 

 

7 Replies to “A new under 21 cup, plus 8 other competitions, and Arsenal’s “25””

  1. we actually have 16 non-homegrown players and 5 homegrown. I think bendtner will play some part, especially now he has changed his shirt number, why do that if he is not to be involved?

    the other thing to remember is that whilst that is “thin” we currently have 7 players on the books born 1992, meaning the will be classed as homegrown come next summer (Wilshire, jenkinson, frimpong and ryo amongst them) there is also a strong possibility that coquelin and djourou could also return as well as Campbell and miquel who are also both born 1992. that will then bring our 21 man squad up to 32, meaning at least 7 players wont be involved next season already.

  2. so if we don’t sign any new players for next season, this will be wengers squad andmake a dceision on who to leave out

    8 (min) homegrown from these
    Nicklas Bendtner
    Theo Walcott
    Kieran Gibbs
    Wojciech Szczesny
    Johan Djourou
    Aaron Ramsey
    Francis Coquelin
    Jack Wilshere
    Emmanuel Frimpong
    Carl Jenkinson
    Samuel Galindo
    Joel Campbell
    Damian Martinez
    Daniel Boateng
    Ignasi Miquel
    Ryo Miyaichi

    17 (max) from these non-homegrown
    Tomas Rosicky
    Mikel Arteta
    Bacary Sagna
    Mathieu Flamini
    Per Mertesacker
    Santiago Cazorla
    Lukasz Fabianski
    Lukas Podolski
    Chu-Young Park
    Laurent Koscielny
    Thomas Vermaelen
    Emiliano Viviano
    Nacho Monreal
    Abou Diaby
    Olivier Giroud
    Mesut Ozil

    you would think park, bendtner, galindo and boateng will definitely not be here next season.

  3. Hope we do get to see a few of the kids, especially ryo and eisfeld. Have a strange feeling we will see Nick B and hopefully a motivated version, playing in front of our MF could do wonders for a stalled career,if he is lucky enough to get the chance, really hope he takes it. He has the talent, just hope his attitude has improved a bit.
    If your trip was for pleasure, hope you have enjoyed guernsey, maybe a cobo sunset, a stroll along shell beach in Herm , Petit Port on a sunny morning, an ice cream at that place at Icart and any number of other delights of the place. Sorry, Guernsey tourism promotion over.

  4. @Mandy,

    If the reports are true that Nicks transfer was blocked by Mr Wenger himself….then I believe he’ll get his chance.

    Therz no doubt that Nick B is a talented player, if only he can get his head right. He can be a good alternative/competition to Giroud……

  5. Looks like AW is giving Bendtner a new chance, he does rate him we know.
    Anyway more football for the youth in proper grounds can only be a good thing. So Manu, Liv and Spuds opt out, i wonder why?
    Could it be they have no players? Maybe Arsenal Media can screen all the games too.

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