Krystian Bielik, Matteo Guendouzi and Reiss Nelson are all set to feature in the u21 European Championship this summer, which will likely affect their pre-season opportunities with Arsenal.

On Monday, the FA announced on their website that Reiss Nelson will be part of the England squad competing in the u21 European Championship this summer. Nelson joins Matteo Guendouzi (France) and Krystian Bielik (Poland) in receiving call-ups.

Firstly, the trio deserve congratulations for impressing sufficiently to be involved in the squad. However, the competition takes place from 16th-30th June, which means it’s going to end up impacting on their participation in pre-season with Arsenal.

Bielik’s season with Charlton has only just ended, so there’s no time for his mandatory six-week holiday between now and the start of the tournament, meaning he’ll have to take most of it afterwards.

Guendouzi still hasn’t finished his season with Arsenal, whilst Nelson has had a week off so far, but he’ll still need at least three or four weeks more after the end of the Championship. Given Arsenal play their first first-team friendly on July 16th, there’s almost no chance any of the three will be available by then.

The upside is that this opens up opportunities for other players to prove their worth. Xavier Amaechi should get chances on the right in Nelson’s absence, and Joe Willock can fill in for Guendouzi in midfield. If the Arsenal youngsters have strong u21 European Championship tournaments, they shouldn’t need pre-season to prove themselves anyway.