Brazil call up 2 Arsenal players but exclude 2 former Gunners

Ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League win over Napoli on Wednesday night, a couple of members of the squad received a morale boost after they were called up by their national team.

Gabriel Magalhaes and Bruno Guimaraes were both included in Brazil’s squad for the upcoming international break, with neither inclusion particularly surprising.

But there was a strong focus from Carlo Ancelotti on refreshing the squad and giving opportunities to the next generation of Brazilian players, which came at the expense of a couple of former Arsenal players.

Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli left north London for FC Barcelona and Al Hilal respectively over the summer, and they both would have been watching on to see if they received call-ups themselves. Unfortunately, they were left out on this occasion.

Jesus and Martinelli shouldn’t be too disheartened by their exclusions, as Ancelotti evidently wants to hand out a number of Brazil debuts in this break.

Hugo Souza, Matheuzinho, Breno Bidon, Arthur Dias, Pedro Morisco, Otavio, and Gabriel Bontempo were all called up for the first time, a much longer list than in your usual international break. Brazil shared the players’ touching reactions to their call-ups on social media.

Though the upcoming international break is an extended one, Brazil won’t be playing any competitive fixtures. Their three friendly games will be against Australia on September 25th, Australia again on September 29th, and India on October 3rd.

It’s a good chance for Ancelotti to see what his younger players can do, before the competitive fixtures return.