Who will play for Arsenal U19s in the UEFA Youth League this season?
Arsenal U19s will get their latest UEFA Youth League campaign underway next week and once again it is hoped that this will finally be the year in which the club’s fortunes in this competition improve.
Since returning to the Youth League in 2023, Arsenal have failed to progress beyond the initial stage, while their best ever performance came in the competition’s inaugural season in 2013/14, when they were eliminated by Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
For this season players must be born on or after January 1st 2008, with up to five overage players born on or after January 1st 2007 also permitted to feature.
Therefore, the following members of the U21 squad are too old to be involved: Louie Copley, Lucas Nygaard, Remy Mitchell, Archie Stevens, Habeeb Ogunneye and James Scanlon.
Furthermore, players who haven’t been at the club for two entire seasons cannot be considered as overage players, which rules Demiane Agustien, Jaden Dixon, Evan Mooney and Marcell Washington out of contention.
Arsenal only have three players born in 2007 who qualify as overage players – Brayden Clarke, Khari Ranson and Andre Harriman-Annous.
The following players in the U21 squad are also still eligible to play for the U19s: Ife Ibrahim, Theo Julienne, Josh Ogunnaike, Ceadach O’Neill, Jack Porter, Louis Zecevic John and Igor Tyjon.
The rest of the squad should consist of scholars and schoolboys, with Marli Salmon and Max Dowman eligible to feature when they are not with the first-team.
It should be noted, however, that if a player features three times for the first-team in the Champions League this season then they will not be permitted to play in the Youth League for the rest of the campaign.
Scholars: Gabriel Arteta, Brando Bailey-Joseph, Marley Frohock, Callan Hamill, Maalik Hashi, Josiah King, Remi Lupinski, Teshaun Murisa, Abraham Owusu-Gyasi, Bowen Phillips, Marli Salmon, Saurap Sampang, Patrick Stachow, Josh Tahou, Jack Talbot, Hakeem Abubakar, Elyon Mbala, Daniel McCarron, Emerson Nwaneri, Jayden Oba, Theo Odaji-Ukueku, Angelinou Pedro, Charlie Purdy, Joshua Sesay, Axel Donczew, Max Dowman.
Vincent Joseph and Mylo Bernard haven’t yet completed their moves to the club but will be eligible to play in the Youth League once they do so.
Schoolboys could include: Mikael Bonaventure Yetna, Charlie Phillips, Jaden Maghoma, Luis Munoz, Zachary Van der Straaten, Frankie Wyatt and Max Lo Presti plus many others.
Clubs have to submit an initial squad of 40 players which will be whittled down to 20 for each matchday.
Arsenal’s fixture list was confirmed last week and will be as follows. A first meeting with Real Madrid in this competition on the final matchday is especially intriguing.
September 9th – Napoli (a)
October 13th – Lille (h)
October 21st – Bayern Munich (a)
November 4th – Slavia Prague (a)
November 24th – Borussia Dortmund (h)
December 9th – Real Madrid (h)
Based on the current availability of players, here’s a prediction of what the squad to face Napoli could look like:
Ranson
Clarke-Salmon-Upson-Ogunnaike
Ibrahim
O’Neill-Julienne
Zecevic John-Harriman Annous–Emerson Nwaneri
Subs: Porter, Owusu-Gyasi, Abubakar, Sampang, Murisa, Hashi, B. Phillips, Oba, Tyjon.
Perhaps the strongest possible team Arsenal could field in the competition when everyone is available would be as follows:
Ranson
Clarke-Salmon-Upson-Ogunnaike
Ibrahim
O’Neill-Julienne
Dowman-Tyjon-Harriman Annous
Subs: Porter, King, Hamill, Abubakar, Murisa, Hashi, Zecevic John, Bailey-Joseph, Donczew.
