Despite the good news about the Arsenal England call-ups for the World Cup, the rest of the squad announcements on Thursday weren’t so positive.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Nuno Tavares of Arsenal and Facundo Torres of Orlando City fight for the ball during a Florida Cup friendly at Exploria Stadium on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Nuno Tavares of Arsenal and Facundo Torres of Orlando City fight for the ball during a Florida Cup friendly at Exploria Stadium on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

England confirmed on Thursday that Ben White, Bukayo Saka, and Aaron Ramsdale had all been called up to their World Cup squad, with Gareth Southgate even hinting that Emile Smith Rowe might have got a call if not for his injury.

Yet the rest of the day’s squad announcements mostly just brought disappointment for Arsenal players.

Earlier in the day, Belgium confirmed that they wouldn’t be calling up Albert Sambi Lokonga, which wasn’t particularly surprising given his comments about Roberto Martinez.

Then Portugal announced their squad, with Cedric Soares, Fabio Vieira, and Nuno Tavares all dropping out for the final 26 after featuring in the preliminary squad.

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The misfortune even extended to some former Gunners, with Bernd Leno missing out on the Germany squad to travel to Qatar.

Leno’s decision to leave Arsenal for Fulham was supposedly partly motivated by a desire to return to the international stage, so that exclusion was a particular disappointment.

Then on Friday, ex-Arsenal internationals Hector Bellerin and Donyell Malen missed out on the squads for Spain and the Netherlands respectively.

Viktoria Plzen's Czech defender Milan Havel (R) and Barcelona's Spanish defender Hector Bellerin vie for the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group C football match FC Viktoria Plzen v FC Barcelona in Plzen, Czech Republic, on November 1, 2022. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Viktoria Plzen’s Czech defender Milan Havel (R) and Barcelona’s Spanish defender Hector Bellerin vie for the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group C football match FC Viktoria Plzen v FC Barcelona in Plzen, Czech Republic, on November 1, 2022. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

But it wasn’t all bad news for former Arsenal players. Lucas Torreira made the Uruguay squad, whilst Wojciech Szczesny and Krystian Bielik were both called up by Poland.

After all the injury problems Bielik has been through, making it into the World Cup squad is a big boost.

Given he’s missed more games than he’s played in the four seasons since leaving Arsenal (featuring in just 41% of Derby and Birmingham’s Championship squads), it’s fortunate enough that he’s fit to accept the call.

There are only a few squads left to name now, with Thomas Partey of Ghana and Omar Rekik of Tunisia the only other Arsenal players likely to receive a call-up to add to the nine players called up so far:

Martinelli and Jesus (Brazil), Tomiyasu (Japan), Xhaka (Switzerland), Saliba (France), Turner (United States), Saka, Ramsdale, and White (England).

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