Morning.
It’s Thursday and we’re right into the Interlull now. If you want to find out who is doing what with their international teams, Andrew A has you covered over on Arseblog News. As ever we keep fingers, toes, and everything crossed that we come back with no further issues on top of the ones we already have.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have submitted their ‘A List’ squad for the group stages of the Champions League. It’s more or less as expected, but here it is in full anyway.
Goalkeepers
- David Raya, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Tommy Setford
Defenders
- Ben White, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie
Midfielders
- Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice, Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Leandro Trossard, Max Dowman
Forwards
- Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres
We can submit 25 players to that A List but have only included 23, which means no place for Gabriel Jesus. It might be indication that he’s not going to be sufficiently recovered from the ACL injury he sustained in January, but given the group stage runs until January 28th, it’s more than long enough for him to make a return. I looked up some previous ACL injuries at Arsenal and the time between the injury and their return.
- Rob Holding – Days out: 294
- Calum Chambers – Days out: 318 (played for U21s)
- Hector Bellerin – Days out: 267
- Mohamed Elneny – Days out: 262
It’s now 235 days since Jesus got that injury against United in the FA Cup, so we should be approaching the point where he’s more or less ready to play. So, given no changes can be made until February, it’s either a not particularly good sign with regards his fitness, or there’s something else going on. I know this is the second serious knee injury he’s had, and this might extend the absence, but I just wonder if they’re planning on loaning him out or something. As far as I can tell the Brazilian transfer window is closed, and there were some rumours about him going back there. But Turkey and Saudi Arabia, two credible destinations, remain open for a few days yet. This might be a case putting of two and two together and getting five, but perhaps one to keep an eye on.
Max Dowman is included in the main squad because at 15 he’s not eligible to be included on the ‘B List’, where U21 players are usually named. That’s why Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are not included in the ‘A List’. The criteria says a B List player is ‘born on, or after, January 1 2004, and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday, 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.’
Clearly, at such a young age, Dowman hasn’t been eligible for two years, hence his inclusion. If he plays any minutes at all between now and the end of 2025, he’ll surpass Youssoufa Moukoko as the youngest ever Champions League player. He was 16 years and 18 days old when he appeared for Borussia Dortmund in December 2020, and Max doesn’t turn 16 until December 31st. A potential record breaker, and our Champions League campaign kicks off on September 16th against Athletic Club. I’ve been to Bilbao a few times, it’s a great city and the stadium location is incredible. I’ve often considered going just to watch a La Liga game, so I can’t wait to go and see us play there.
Beyond that, it all seems pretty quiet. We’ll have an Arsecast a bit later for you, and in this episode we’re going to focus on injuries with some expert insight and analysis from Dr Andrew Mitchell. If you have any questions, we’ve put the call out on BlueSky, so feel free to drop yours in the replies. For now, have a good Thursday.
We’re doing a pod on injuries and injury issues tomorrow with @arsenal-phd.bsky.social If you have any questions about injuries, prevention, management, rehab etc – at Arsenal, Arsenal Women, or football in general, please leave reply to this, and we’ll see how many we can get to.Thanks!
