Arsenal’s Europa League squad named: 42 players named in all.

By Tony Attwood

As you will of course know we are playing in Group H against …

• BATE Borisov
• Crvena zvezda
• Köln

The squad has now been announced.  Here are the rules…

Clubs can name a maximum of 25 players on their primary list, known as List A.   Eight places are reserved for home-grown players. A maximum of 17 players can be named who do not meet the criteria of a home-grown player.

Two players named in the 25-man List A must be goalkeepers.   Teams can also add players to List B, a separate squad list reserved for youth players.

Home-grown players

The definitions of home-grown players are split into two categories: club trained and association trained.

Four places are reserved for club-trained players. If a club can’t name four players who meet the club-trained criteria, they must leave an empty space in their squad for each player they can’t name.

The definition of club trained is a player who between the ages of 15 and 21 was registered with his current club for three entire seasons. The nationality of the player does not matter.  Bellerin, Ramsey, Coquelin, Wilshere, Walcott… take your pick.

The definition of an association-trained player is one who between the ages of 15 and 21 was registered with any club, or a combination of clubs, for three entire seasons in the same association as the club attempting to name him on their UEFA squad list.  Welbeck, Macey, Holding, Chambers, plus anyone left over from the prevous list.

In what follows you will notice that Arsenal have 25 A list players.  Tottenham, to take one example only had 21 players in their list.  The reasons are explained below.

List A

There are 17 squad spaces available for non-local players. These can be filled by any player, regardless of nationality or where they were trained.

List B

List B is reserved for young players. An unlimited number of players can be named or withdrawn from the list at any point in the season. The list simply has to be submitted by 11pm UK time on the day before a match.

In the 2017/18 season, List B is for any player born on, or after, January 1, 1996, who has been eligible to play for his club for “any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday”.    Players aged 16 may be registered on List B if they have been registered with the participating club for the previous two years without interruption.

B list players are shown with an asterisk.  Totals are for A lists players plus B list players.

Goalkeepers: (4+2)

• David OSPINA
• Petr ČECH
• Ryan HUDDART *
• Deyan ILIEV
• Hugo KETO *
• Matt MACEY

Defenders (9+3)

• Mat DEBUCHY
• Per MERTESACKER
• Laurent KOSCIELNY
• Rob HOLDING
• Nacho MONREAL
• Shkodran MUSTAFI
• Calum CHAMBERS
• Héctor BELLERÍN
• Sead KOLAŠINAC
• Tolaji BOLA *
• Chiori JOHNSON *
• Tafari MOORE *

Midfield (6+8)

• Aaron RAMSEY
• Jack WILSHERE
• Mesut ÖZIL
• Alex IWOBI *
• Jeff REINE-ADÉLAÏDE *
• Granit XHAKA
• Ainsley MAITLAND-NILES *
• Francis COQUELIN
• Mohamed ELNENY
• Krystian BIELIK *
• Charlie GILMOUR *
• Marcus MCGUANE *
• Reiss NELSON *
• Ben SHEAF *

Forwards (6+4)

• ALEXIS SÁNCHEZ
• Alexandre LACAZETTE
• Olivier GIROUD
• Theo WALCOTT
• Danny WELBECK
• Chuba AKPOM
• Pelenda DA SILVA *
• Aaron EYOMA *
• Edward NKETIAH *
• Joseph WILLOCK *

In other news…

• Arsenal’s four teams to cope with seven games in three weeks.
• What do the first three league games of the season tell us?
• Spanish League demand investigations, WHU demand satisfaction, Tottenham only have 21 adult players for Europe