Young Arsenal winger Joel Ideho will be eligible for the Europa League squad from this week, giving Mikel Arteta an extra squad option from the academy.

Joel Ideho (L) playing for the Arsenal u21s (Photo via Ideho on Instagram)
Joel Ideho (L) playing for the Arsenal u21s (Photo via Ideho on Instagram)

When Arsenal named their Europa League squad and their List B last month, they had to leave a few players out.

With only limited space in the main squad, many of Arsenal’s young players were named on List B, which is open to players born after January 1st, 2001 who have been at Arsenal for two years after their 15th birthday.

Unfortunately, Joel Ideho wasn’t quite eligible for that list at the time. He’d only joined Arsenal in October 2020, meaning he hadn’t spent two years at the club.

But List B can be updated up until midnight on the day before each game, so as soon as Ideho hits that two-year mark, he becomes eligible for Arsenal’s matches. That will happen this week.

Arsenal officially confirmed Ideho’s signing on October 6th, 2020, so it definitely will have been two years by Thursday.

It’s also possible Arsenal signed the paperwork in the days before the official announcement, in which case he would already be eligible today for tomorrow’s squad to face FK Bodo/Glimt.

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Joel Ideho with Arsenal (Photo via Ideho on Instagram)

Ideho primarily plays on the left wing for the Arsenal u21s, and he’s been in strong form lately. The 19-year-old has scored three goals in his last two games, and three good goals at that.

Most likely, Ideho won’t be involved against Bodo/Glimt even if he’s eligible.

The return of Reiss Nelson has given Mikel Arteta an alternative to Gabriel Martinelli, and results are still very important at this early stage.

But if Arsenal can put a few wins together and solidify a spot at the top of the group, perhaps it makes more sense to take the likes of Ideho abroad to Norway or his home country of the Netherlands and leave one of the senior players to rest at home.