Arsenal’s Champions League squad – Some surprises

Arsenal are gearing up for our first Champions League fixture on September 16th against Dinamo Zagreb and our final 32 player squad has now been announced. This total is the normal 25-man squad plus 7 “B-List” youngsters which can be made up of youngsters that have been at the club for at least 2 years.

The 17 year-old Jeff Reine-Adelaide is thought to be the biggest surprise inclusion in the main squad (well, according to Sky anyway) but for me the biggest shock was seeing Joel Campbell on the list. The Costa Rican seemed to be trying hard to get Wenger to let him leave this summer, but Le Prof is forcing him to honour his contract and I thought he would be frozen out for a while…

Reine-Adelaide’s inclusion has been balanced by having Hector Bellerin in the B-List because he is still under 21, and the other youngsters are: Tafari Moore, Stefan O’Connor, Deyan Iliev, Alex Iwobi, Glen Kamara and Chris Willock.

You may think that these players have no chance of playing, but if Bayern Munich and Arsenal pull away into a dominating position in the Group, then the last two fixtures against Olympiakos and Zagreb again may give Wenger a chance to experiment with the fringe players.

Arsenal Champions League squad:

Goalkeepers: Ospina, Cech, Macey.

Defenders: Debuchy, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Chambers.

Midfielders: Rosicky, Arteta, Wilshere, Özil, Ramsey, Cazorla, Flamini, Coquelin, Reine-Adelaide.

Forwards: Giroud, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez, Welbeck, Campbell.

All in all, with Bellerin included, that looks like a very strong squad that should have no problem making the last 16….

Tags Adelaide Bellerin Campbell

38 Comments

    1. The only champions League surprise will be to make it past the Round of 16 and Lift the Trophy *wishes in the form of horses*

  1. Lets see how well AW rotates squad as 1st two CL games will be before crucial league games(Chelsea then Man Utd)
    12 Sep vs Stoke
    16 Sep – CL GNK Dinamo
    19 Sep – Chelsea
    26 Sep – Leicester City
    29 Sep – CL Olympiacos
    04 Oct – Man United

  2. Remember when Ox got a shot in the CL and he scored! Was a brilliant moment for him!
    Wenger nearly always seems to substitute the wings first for either an attacking or defensive substitution. Jeff’s been crazy impressive for the u21’s. Could earn a call-up pretty quickly.
    I’d like to see a better rotation system from Wenger in the group stages. We have plenty of depth in nearly every position so shouldn’t be an issue.
    I think we’re going to see more of Arteta than a lot of fans are anticipating. Personally, I’ve been really impressed with him when he’s come on late in games for us.

  3. hey guys you know what.even without additions we have a very strong squad
    cech is better than courtois degea hart
    monreal better than azpilicueta clichy alba equal to marcelo
    koscienly better than sergio ramos terry kompany and pique
    gabriel better than mascherano otamendi and stones
    bellerin better than alves carvajal ivanovic and the rest
    coquelin better than matic busquets and verrati
    ramsey better than rakitic modric yaya toure fab and equal to xavi
    cazorla better than iniesta alonzo isco pogba and silva
    sanchez better than neymar robben hazard ribery and pedro
    the ox better than sterling nasri and others
    wenger better than ferguson pep
    mourinho van gaal klopp simeone and ancellotk
    MESUT OZIL will be the worlds best player after two years
    IF you are wondering what am smoking its SHISHA KUSH and five more illegal drugs and IF you dont believe me believe squawka van gaal mourinho and mclaren who equalled us to barcelona
    if you cant go support MANURE

      1. Cech was not dropped becuz he’s inferior to Courtois. Cech was in form, but so was Courtois too who happens to be younger and a good replacement for the aging Cech. Whenever that happens, u go for the younger one who stands for the future.

  4. These aside, did any of you noticed what a beast is Szceszny at Roma? I have seen the highlights against Juventus and man, what a save! I am happy we don’t meet them in UCL.

  5. This squad is no much for the mighty big guns of europe in the name of bayern,barca,madrid and PSG..i however shd thank the writer of the article for clearly indicating how we are only good for round 16s and not beyond…lets not forget this same inept squad with the exception of maybe cech faced monaco and we all know what happened!so spare yourself the headache of who is in who is out as we are just participants rather than competitors and the non-deluded knows this!if wenger cld not deliver the champions league trophy during his best days at the club that is 11yrs ago then what makes any rational creature think he cld finally deliver it now when the level of wenger sturbborness,arrogance and naivity is at its peak???someone told me Zagreb and olympiakos are confident of 2nd spot in our group as it cld have been worse for them!it wld even be wise we spare our obviously thin squad for the epl rather than ”sneak” a donkey into a horse race and try to make everyone think we are in it while we are plainly non-existant…

    1. That’s the spirit. Expect nothing so that you can (maybe) get pleasantly surprised. I remember before the game against Monaco this site was full of 3-0 predictions for the Arsenal. That’ll teach you to be humble next time and put some grit into the game.

    2. Have u actually looked at the depth of their squads? Go to uefa.com before making bold statements, I agree we don’t have a world class striker like Messi, Ronaldo, lewandowski and ibrahimovic, but also bayern aside none of them have a world class keeper like cech, certainly none of them have a back up as good as ospina. Sure they all have good playmakers, but so do we in ozil, cazorla, Ramsey, wilshire we have 5 of the finest. Some have good wingers, but so do we Walcott, chamberlain, alexis and campbell are all very good wingers very capable of scoring and taking many chances. In defence we have 8 international defenders. How many do we actually need?

      We all know our two weakest areas, but in coquelin, arteta and flamini, we have 1 outstanding dm and to OK ones good enough to cope with the dead rubbers and games against minnows in the league and domestic cups. Giroud and welbeck will probably get us 30 goals between them this season, it’s up to the rest to get another 80 plus.

  6. got bit surprised flamini still there. i hope our secret weapon no 9 ” OG own goal ” was included there, surely he will scored when we faced barca/munchen/real/psg
    hahaha kidding.

    hope our player will not faced any serious injury/booked.
    show them we are not winning by buying,
    with gabriel+koscielny+cech, best we ever have , since keown,campbell,toure.era
    im confident even messi,cr7 will frustated to score, then do g-style punch the ground , +coquelin discliplined ,strong pace and rotating play from ox ,alexis,welb,walcott will give our enemy nonstop pressure and dangerous counter attack + cazorla,ozil, vision + bad boy willshere + ramsey with 90mins horsepower + while giroud activate dragging defender skills ,perfect heading
    no possible.
    we can go trough last 4 or final round, that will be great to watch
    arsenal alone vs big spending team

    PS: only if all player fit,no one injured. `just cant wait to see it

  7. Wow i read the previous article and peeps are stil defending the man.Ei i thank goodness i live in reality and also know that even in life there should be no excuse for failure even if there is one.I am even sure peeps will defend him the next season and the next because they refuse to let go of the fact that they are wrong.You know one thing i like about sayings is that they always come to pass and wisdom always laughs at the foolish one in times of struggle.

  8. There are two guys here whose name i will not mention they think they are so wise and always make up excuses.I feel sorry for them because they live their lives in lies honestly speaking.Its a pity that peeps have to be like this.This is part of the mental barrier that has been holding this club.Not being honest and and acting in accordance with truth.I feel sorry for them.Well you can alway shave the pleasure of saying I told you so.

    1. More than two. But I don’t understand how this “thinking” as you say is holding the club. Surely, you don’t believe AFC asks them for advice, is it?

    2. @kev
      actually i was so dissapointed with our activity in this windows, but hey what can u do?
      im not defending manager/board , got tired too with wenger economical way and wanting class player with discount/reduced price

      even arsenal no1 fan like claude and the other cant do anything and just left hanging there with depression and madness

      didnt we all should look forward and stop complaining or looking at the past?
      so after mr manager choose not to taking this chance to landing some, why not giving another chance.
      by giving our best support
      Whatever Happens is Supposed to Happen, lets just hope it happens for something good

      hope decision not to land new player didnt affect our mental squad

      1. Supporting Wenger early years after new stadium was logical and correct, but after 11 years and when they admit 200 M in the bank then it is idiotic and passive. Stop being so stupid and stand up for what we truly deserve. Wenger Out

  9. Basically Adelaide is in there to make up the 25. We had no other player who would make up the 25. It’s not really a shock inclusion because if we wanted to be able to play him, he had to be included, but conversely, there was no other players going to be added in suddenly – they’ll be youth players and qualify anyway. I doubt Adelaide is gonna get any game time – including him is just precaution for if we get struck down by the plague or what not :-/

  10. Of course, dear Arsene. Of course this squad shall conquer the world. I believe “Cohesion” shall take us further than anyone can imagine.

    1. Think Wenger has re-evaluated how close he is to first team football. Given we already have Flamini and Arteta to back up Coquelin in that position, it seems to make sense he would prioritize a winger who we have far left of in the squad if it is just about numbers.

  11. The surprise thing I will say is, Arsenal will play 4 games away consecutively after hosting Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium. Dinamo Zagreb A, Chelsea A, Tottenham Hotspur A & Leicester City A. I believe we all know that. However, the Gunners MUST buckle up properly and be fully ready to face the rough terrain challenges those 4 away games will pose to them. As for our home game to Stoke, I have no doubt in my mind whatever that Arsenal will not collect all the 3 points that will emanates from the game. The Gunners will, and take us to 10 points in the table after the international break. I think the Boss is innovative with his Ucl 32 Gunners selection of group A & B. He has seemingly give a chance to the youngster, Jeff Reine-Adelaide to prosper, let him seize the chance to do that when he’s given. The reason for Bellerin been in the 7 Ucl reserve youths is explained. But I hope that will not hinder his starting role in the Ucl games. And Oxchabo has now been promoted to the forward rank. I thought he’s a midfielder that operates behind the 2 midfield holders.

  12. How flamini made it to this squad is a misery and beyond me. A man who left us for dead and joined inter at the prime of his career where he gave his best yrs and won all that was winnable is doing what at arsenal when even his legs cannot take it any longer??? A guy who shd be seeing out the last phase of his career at NY redbull,China or wherever is at arsenal doing what?it’s nowdays arsenal where deadwoods as this are pushing time when it’s obvious they have nothing left to offer!reaching even round 16 must be a luxury for us!!!

    1. He joined Milan but that’s not the point. Point is when your midfielders legs are tired or injured will you prefer Flamini to enter and rest them or do you prefer no one at all? Because this is how it is today. He makes the numbers, just in case. It is a 32 men squad, surely Flamini can be part of a 32 players squad, is not like he can’t kick a ball around and break some legs, isn’t it?

        1. “Traitor”. Yes because it is traitorous to not be offered a new contract and then when you ARE offered a new one, there are other clubs knocking who say they want your services at a better price, with better security. He was not really a traitor so much as we let him down and he didn’t feel the urge to be loyal. The guy has worked his butt off for the club, don’t knock him.

  13. Last 16 yeah!!!!! And that’s it just more cash for the yank end of. In the group we will get done by a very good German club then yes you got it top team will piss all over us and I bet it will be Real Madrid or Barcelona

  14. The Arsene We Trust, where are those fool, you can pay for the season ticket, Arsenal fc is going to Win the CL.. lol mugu

  15. For a market where no suitable strikers were available (“Wenger”) Van Gaal seems to have pulled some kind of a rabbit out of the hat on deadline day for a mere 32 million pounds.

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