Arsenal have announced their full 29-man squad for the tour of the USA, after setting off on Thursday morning.

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Arsenal Tour Squad for the USA, pre-season 2019

After the bombshell Arsenal dropped that Laurent Koscielny is refusing to go on tour with the squad, they announced the 29 players who are still willing to play for the club in the US this pre-season.

In addition to all the usual first-team players who have already returned, long-term injury sufferers Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding also travelled, as did new signing Gabriel Martinelli.

From the academy, Dominic Thompson, Tyreece John-Jules, James Olayinka, Bukayo Saka and Robbie Burton travelled. That’s in addition to the recently promoted quartet of Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock.

USA2019 Squad
Squad Tour List via Arsenal.com

Arsenal have a hectic schedule next week, with matches every two days, so the youth players are all certain to get a chance at some stage. This will be their opportunity to impress and potentially get further matches when the competitive games start.

It’s especially positive to see Thompson and John-Jules involved, after they were both so impressive in the friendly against Boreham Wood.

Thompson could well end up getting first-team chances at left-back this season if the Kieran Tierney deal falls through. Meanwhile, John-Jules has been excellent with the academy for months now, so it’s great to see him getting rewarded for that.