Arsenal have confirmed their Europa League squad for the group stages fixtures with no room in Mikel Arteta's squad for Sokratis Papastathopoulos or Mesut Ozil.
As football.london revealed yesterday, Sokratis and Ozil were the two to pay the price for Arteta's sizeable first team squad. Only 17 non-homegrown players could be named by Arsenal, who have 19 such players in their setup.
Neither Sokratis, who has been injured for much of the season, nor Ozil have featured this season and the two were and remain available for transfer should any club display an interest in them.
Meanwhile Arsenal have also opted against naming Gabriel Martinelli or William Saliba in their group. Neither can be named on the B list of young players and academy prospects as they have not been with the squad for more than two years.
Saliba is available for loan and expected to join a club in the Championship before the October 16 deadline. Martinelli sustained a serious knee injury last season and, though his recovery is progressing to plan, he is not expected to return to training until December, when Arsenal play their final group stage games.
Arsenal were only able to name a squad of 24 due to UEFA regulations requiring four of their eight homegrown places must go to players trained at the club. Arteta was only able to name three: Hector Bellerin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Dejan Iliev.
There was also space in the squad for the highly-regarded 19-year-old goalkeeper James Hillson, who agreed new terms with the club in May.
Top young prospects such as Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock will be named on Arsenal's B list.
