Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has named three young players – Mauro Bandeira, Reuell Walters and Joel Ideho – in his official Europa League squad ahead of the game against Sporting Lisbon tonight.
Arteta is expected to make quite a few changes to his side this evening. Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney are all expected to miss the game, while Gabriel Jesus is still not back to full fitness just yet.
That leaves us quite short of options, and Arteta may turn to our academy to fill in a few spots.
Arsenal register three academy players in their Europa League squad
The deadline to add additional players to the Europa League squad was midnight yesterday.
Arsenal already had plenty of young academy players on their B list, but possibly owing to injury issues, Arteta decided to add three more players, and they’re now eligible to play tonight.
Joel Ideho
Ideho is a 19-year-old Dutch attacker who joined Arsenal from Ajax in October 2020.
The talented teenager can play on the left flank or up front, where Arsenal are short of options at the moment due to the unavailability of Jesus, Nketiah and Trossard.
Ideho hasn’t played a lot this season, but he still has two goals and an assist to his name.
Mauro Bandeira
Bandeira, also 19, is a Portuguese-English midfielder who has been at Arsenal for nearly four years now.
He’s a hugely talented player and his style of play has previously been described as ‘all-action‘. He has a big future in the game, and he has often been spotted in senior training sessions.
Bandeira has played 17 times for the youth sides this season and has directly contributed to four goals.
Reuell Walters
Walters only turned 18 in December, and he is one of our most talented young players.
The teenager can play anywhere across the backline and he got an opportunity last summer in Arsenal’s pre-season tour. He really impressed then, and it’s only a matter of time before he gets to make his senior debut.
With Tierney out injured, Walters could well be named on the bench as an emergency left-back option tonight.
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