Hello. Welcome to a new week.
The Arsenal team left London for the United States yesterday, with a 26-man squad announced. Through the official website. Because of the international competition, it’s a real mix of senior and junior players. Last year there was only one young player on the team, but this year there are 13, and some names are a little more familiar than others.
There is some room in the defensive lineup with both Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu out injured. The former is a player I know from his time in the Euros, but the latter is a player I have not heard of before his departure. I Report posted on Twitter by James Benge In Tomiyasu’s case, it was a problem for 2/3 weeks, so let’s hope that’s true. That’s all.
The goalkeeping lineup is particularly inexperienced, with Karl Hein being the veteran in his place… and he has only made one first-team appearance for the club. However, he has 30 international caps for Estonia! Supporting him during the tour are new signings Tommy Setford and Lucas Nygaard, as well as 18-year-old Alexei Rojas, with David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale not returning until the team returns to London. Kai Havertz, Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli are all set to join the team at the Los Angeles training camp from July 25, while Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba are in the same lineup as the goalkeepers.
So, it’s a chance for young players to play a few games and work with the first team under the nose of the manager and coaching staff. The two I keep mentioning are Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, but it will be interesting to see who else catches the eye. The reality is that Mikel Arteta will have to mix up his team selections to combine young players with enough experience to ensure there is no lack of depth against Premier League opponents.
That’s part of the challenge he faces in pre-season. Ideally, he’d like to have all his first-team players available for training, but after a summer of tournaments, he’ll have to deal with that situation, except when some players are at full strength. As pre-season progresses, most of those young players will be replaced by returning veterans and – who knows?! – a new signing or two, but for now, there’s a chance to impress in games against Bournemouth, Man Utd and Liverpool.
I understand Arteta (and maybe Edu) will have time to meet with journalists on tour and there will be questions about recruitment. I don’t think there will be any details on the plans, but there could be some information about what happens and when. Also, given the squad composition and ongoing talks with the likes of Emile Smith Rowe (Crystal Palace/Fulham), Eddie Nketiah (Marseille/Palace) and Rhys Nelson (West Ham), I doubt there will be any significant progress on them by the end of the tour, but we’ll see.
Right, I was going to leave it here until this morning, but James and I recorded Arsecast Extra for you last night. We discussed Smith Rowe in detail, Riccardo Calafiori, the potential departure of the 16-year-old, the wider discussion of the Academy, and much more. All the links you need to listen/subscribe are below.
until tomorrow.
