Arsenal have announced their squad for this season’s Europa League and there’s no place for either Mesut Ozil or William Saliba in Mikel Arteta’s party.
Ozil, 31, has been frozen out of Arsenal’s first-team since football returned in July and has not featured this term, despite being the club’s top earner on eye-watering wages of £350,000-a-week.
The Gunners were looking to offload Ozil during the summer transfer window but were unable to find a suitable loan or buyer before Monday’s deadline and the German midfielder will remain in north London.
Arsenal’s Europa League squad
Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno, Runar Runarsson, Matt Macey, James Hillson, Dejan Iliev
Defenders: Hector Bellerin, Gabriel, Rob Holding, Cedric Soares, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari, David Luiz, Sead Kolasinac, Kieran Tierney
Midfielders: Dani Ceballos, Willian, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka
Forwards: Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe
Ozil has been clear throughout his exile from the side that he intends to see out his contract at the Emirates and the Europa League could have provided an opportunity for the playmaker to work his way back into the manager’s thoughts.
Arteta has also decided to leave Saliba out of his squad, with the 19-year-old defender keen to secure a loan move away from Arsenal.
The Frenchman was interested in a temporary return to Saint-Etienne for the new campaign but the Ligue 1 outfit missed out on an agreement for their former player which reportedly left him ‘devastated’.
Players who could be included on Arsenal’s B list
Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Emile Smith Rowe, Ryan Alebiosu, Folarin Balogun, Tolaji Bola, Harry Clarke, Ben Cottrell, Karl Heun, Joel Lopez, Jordan McEnuff, Arthur Okonkwo, James Olayinka, Tom Smith, Miguel Azeez
Gabriel Martinelli is another notable omission, with the young forward currently sidelined after suffering a serious knee injury in training back in June.
The Brazilian underwent successful surgery and has been recovering well but is not expected to return until the end of the year at the earliest.
The likes of Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock will likely be named on Arsenal’s B list of homegrown U21 players and will be available to play in Europe.
Thomas Partey’s arrival on deadline day meant Arsenal were left with 19 non-homegrown players in their squad.
A club’s ‘A list’ is allowed maximum of 25 members under UEFA’s ruling and teams must include a minimum of eight places for ‘locally-trained players’.
Should a squad be put forward with fewer than eight locally-trained players, the maximum number of players on the A list reduces – and Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are the casualties in this instance.
