Arsenal have named their squad for the UEFA Champions League group stages.
The squad works as follows:
- You can register up to 25 players to ‘List A’
- Eight of those 25 must be trained within the association the club belongs to
- Four of those eight must have been trained by the club (to qualify for this you must have trained at the club for 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21)
- An unlimited number of players born after 1st January 1994 can be registered on ‘List B’ providing they have been eligible to play for the club for two years.
Obviously there are more rules with more detail, but that gives you a general idea. Here is the full squad named by Arsenal:
Arsenal have included impressive French teenager Jeff Reine-Adelaide on List A, so he will be eligible to play in the competition. He doesn’t qualify for List B having only signed for the club this summer, but will still be an option to Arsène Wenger.
List B includes Héctor Bellerín as well as a number of young players who are generally there for added security or in case the Gunners qualify early and can afford to give them some European experience.
Last season Arsenal left Olivier Giroud out as he was thought to be out until the new year, only for him to return in November. No such mistake has been made this time with Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck all included despite injuries.
Krystian Bielik hasn’t been selected, as he isn’t eligible for List B and is clearly considered less likely to play than Reine-Adelaide. Although the Frenchman impressed during pre-season he is unlikely to feature, despite some suggestions he will. He takes up the 25th place which, frankly, the club would be stupid not to use.