SPECIAL UPDATE: Mikel Arteta HAS REVEALED HIS SQUAD FOR THE UEFA Champions League 2023-24

Arsenal have submitted their ‘List A’ squad to UEFA for the 2023/24 Champions League group stage.

The Gunners who have been drawn in Group B alongside Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven and Lens, as expected, have included summer signings Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and David Raya, as well youngsters in the form of Lino Sousa and James Hillson. But the injured Jurrien Timber was of course left off, with his ACL issue expected to keep him out of the side for the majority of the 2023/24 campaign.

Per UEFA, ‘No club can have more than 25 players on List A during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers. As a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for ‘locally trained players’ and no club may have more than four ‘association-trained players’ listed among those eight places. If a club have fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly.’

Now, locally trained players are split into two categories: The first is Club-trained players which applies to the likes of Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah as they have been on the club’s books for three entire seasons (i.e. the period between the first and last official match of the relevant national championship) or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

Meanwhile, Association-trained players apply to the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Raya and Ben White having been on another club’s books in the same association for three entire seasons (i.e. the period between the first and last official match of the relevant national championship) or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

Arsenal’s Champions League squad:

Goalkeepers: Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya, James Hillson.

Defenders: Cedric, Lino Sousa, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ben White, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior, William Saliba.

Midfielders: Mohamed Elneny, Jorginho, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith Rowe.

Forwards: Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus

Karl Hein is the only senior player not included on List A but there’s a perfectly good reason for that. As explained by UEFA ‘a player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 2002 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption.’

In addition, Arsenal will be entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season, but the list needs to be submitted no later than 11pm the day before a match.