Although he’s working hard to come back from a persistent, chronic Achilles tendon issue, it looks as if the earliest we’ll see Santi Cazorla in an Arsenal shirt is in 2018.
The Spaniard has been left out of the 25 man squad submitted to the Premier League on the close of the transfer window, but could be added in January when the lists are revisited.
Earlier this year, he revealed he’d had eight surgeries to try and correct the problem, and it looks as if his return is still some way off.
Jack Wilshere is included, as is Mathieu Debuchy, while in the absence of Emi Martinez (on loan at Getafe), two young goalkeepers are on the list.
22 year old Macedonian Dejan Iliev, and Matt Macey are both in contention for some EFL Cup action and to battle for third choice behind Petr Cech and David Ospina.
The full squad is listed below.
Arsenal Squad 2017-18
Akpom, Chuba*
Bellerin, Hector*
Cech, Petr
Chambers, Calum*
Coquelin, Francis*
Debuchy, Mathieu
Elneny, Mohamed Naser Elsayed
Giroud, Olivier
Holding, Robert Samuel*
Iliev, Deyan
Kolasinac, Sead
Koscielny, Laurent
Lacazette, Alexandre
Macey, Matthew Ryan
Mertesacker, Per
Monreal, Ignacio
Mustafi, Shkodran
Ospina, David
Ozil, Mesut
Ramsey, Aaron James*
Sanchez, Alexis
Walcott, Theo James*
Welbeck, Daniel*
Wilshere, Jack Andrew*
Xhaka, Granit
*=home grown
I can’t imagine how loud the cheers will be for the return of Santi. Shame it’s still such a long way away, can’t wait to see him play for us again.
Might save us from the usual new year slump
Just the start of the season slump we have worry about now
No Maitland- Niles?
This is only the senior list of 25
Is that why there’s no mention of Reiss Nelson?
he doesn’t need to be registered as he is under 21… or at least thats how my understanding of Premier League rules work, which was entirely learnt form football manager.
Players under a certain age don’t need to be registered can’t remember the exact age though think it might be 21
U23 players don’t have to be registered
No, players born after January 1st 1996 do not need to be registered.
Debuchy in form would be a great wing back. Wenger doesn’t mind having unhappy players such as Sanchez and Mustafi a guy he tried to flush. What is the difference ? Use Debuchy while he is still with the club.
Anyone remember when Debuchy had to fill in at centre-half? I seem to recall him doing a decent job. In the 3-CB formation, he might be an outside bet as the right-sided CB as well.
hahaha Wenger is that you?
haha, Inspector Clouseau is in the house!
Lord!
At arsenal Wenger’s pride is far more important than results
Use him for what exactly? He is 32 and hasnt played any football in 2 years and nobody wants him. Why was he not released? So the absence of another body will not be glaring. So our inability to make up 25 will not be obvious. Sickening!
You don’t have to submitt those player in the under 21
Favorite Emirates player by far.
I hope Per’s testimonial is Arsenal Current vs Arsenal Legends.
And I hope Santi plays for the legends.
I believe his Arsenal career is effectively over. We need to come to terms with that. The reason he got his contract extended is obviously because we did not want to be seen to have abandoned him in the middle of rehab. You all know what a nice club we are. But another extension would be difficult to justify. So I have no doubt that Santi now spends some of his time planning for his post-playing days. Because they are here, more or less.
My first impression of that list of players, is how weak it looks.
Take away the players who won’t be at the club next summer and you really start to worry.
Per Ozil: Even though I personally do not know how my career will continue after this year, I look forward to my fifth season with Arsenal. This is because Arsenal is a great club with great people and great traditions. I am glad to be able to wear your shirt, Gooners. I’ve had so many great moments in the last four years and I really appreciate what this club means to the people of London, the UK and all over the world.”
Good words
Want to see good actions now
From all of them
Ozil has some good PR peoole working for him. He doesn’t write this stuff.
Ozil has created more chances in last two seasons than any other premiership player.
Ozil has not tracked back when losing the ball more than any other player the last 2 years. You have to play on both sides of the ball to be a champion/leader/highest earner on the team, no?
I’m a defender, it’s the easiest part of all sports.
Who is Per Ozil please?
What is the reason to take them away? The list is for those in the club this season.
I love the idea of growing players at home. Think we’re missing a trick here, if we milk our old heroes we could sell their seed in the club shop. Fans could grow their own Bergkamp, Henry or Chris Kiwomia’s in their greenhouses and when they are ready, give them back to the team to play for us. This could be the new beginning we are after!
As long as it works better than the grow your own crystals kit I had when I was a kid. All I ended up with were some bits of string with crusty blue bits on ’em 🙁
No Nelson? ?
Under 21 – doesn’t need to be registered.
I don’t think he has to be included to be able to play, due to his age (might be wrong, using my Football Manager knowledge here.)
The news just keeps getting better…
You can spend 100m in today’s market and still struggle to replace Santi (not that we even bothered to try!)
I hate football
Marco Asensio cost Real 3.5million euros didn’t he? Not the same type of player I know, but there’s a comparison to be made in terms of talent.
But as you said, the critical, most annoying point is – have we even bothered to try?
Its so easy to cherry pick players after they have proven themselves. how many have just disappeared not amounting to anything. Its not easyto find these players plus why would a guy from Spain leave when 1 of the 2 biggest clubs in the world happen to be in Spain?
There are some people you cannot replace. Bergkamp and Santi are two of them
Should have included Nelson instead of Akpom.
But why? Nelson doesn’t need to be registered anyway to play.
He’s under 21 so doesn’t have to be included. Can play for team
No Alex Iwobi?? Like seriously??
Also under 21.
And doesn’t that statement say everything about him!
Yes, Dejan Iliev 🙂
As Macedonian I would love to see this guy in action… Is he ready to step up? I dunno, but at age of 22 this maybe is his last chance to show what he can in Arsenal shirt…
Anyway, good luck to the guys and hope we’ll have good season.
No Iwobi, No Nelson? Then Debuchy, Chuba Akpom and some 4th goalkeeper. Got nothing against those folks but Iwobi and Nelson were real standouts at our pre-season. The future has never been scary for any passionate gunner.
Learn some football please
Do people not read previous comments before posting?! This has been asked and answered so many times already!
I fear Santi is finished and that squad will get Wenger the sack. In the meantime less fans will attend games and those who do will be fighting in the stands. The lack of results and loss in revenue will hopefully prompt Kroenke to sell up. That’s the best we can hope for this season which is pretty fucking depressing. I’m off for a beer and to listen to my self help audio
I fear for Santi and I HOPE Wenger will get the sack.
what if wenger’s master plan is to make us shit = stock drop he has to sell?
Because that’s stupid?
We still haven’t found a way to play without Cazorla.
Im not sure how Arsene constructs a functioning team from here?
Holding has never filled me with confidence.
He clearly has little faith in Mustafi or Chambers.
Rambo+Xhaka doesn’t really work.
Whatever we do from here? Hopefully we’ll start playing an actual left back at left back.
I might be tempted to go 4-4-2?
Going long to Giroud, bypassing the midfield and playing off scraps.
Arsene usually stumbles across a formula.
Looking at the pieces, I’m not sure how we stick them all together to get something which works?
There was no sign of a lack of faith in Mustafi last year (not like Lucas Perez or even Elnenny). He played, as far as I can recall, in every match for which he was fit. I was shocked to hear that he was being sold or loaned to Inter, and I’m sure this was the reason he did not play at Liverpool. I cannot believe that the decision to allow him to leave–unless we had Chiellini or someone like that ready to come in–was based on lack of confidence in his ability. Something else was going on.
Could it be that Arsene had little faith in Mustafi?
But he had even less in the alternatives?
It certainly wasn’t the case–it Wenger had that little confidence in the player, he would’ve played monreal as CB.
That Mustafi issue is something else. Management at Arsenal is getting weird by the day.
The thing is we have good players but only a couple of “tiki-taka” players that can effectively play the way Wenger wants, especially in midfield and under pressure. If those players are injured, out of form or targeted by the opposition, then the whole house of cards can collapse, especially in the big games. We don’t necessarily need a Cazorla replacement, we need a different way of playing
I take it you have no place for Lacazette
Bae ❤️
I was just thinking about this.
In our whole squad, I can only think of 2 players who are universally liked by Arsenal fans, in that very few people think they’re not good enough. Those 2 players are Koscielny and Cazorla (not counting the 2 new signings). Every other player has doubters.
Not sure what the point of this comment is but I find it interesting.
The vociferous Internet fans are quite harsh critics but probably don’t reflect the wider fan base on the hating of players front.
Vociferous Internet fans who don’t reflect the wider fan base aren’t just the harsh critics, they’re the over the top optimists too.
I’ve seen idiots slag them both off too.
Where’s Nelson??
FFS! He’s gone into the Navy. 🙂
On the column.
Where is Alex Iwobi in this list???
Is true where is iwobi
He’s not on it.
Why not read earlier comments Players under 23 do not have to be registered which includes Iwobi and Nelson
he went on loan
On paper the squad is good enough to win things. The attack is very strong.
Whether or not it will perform is another matter …
Any idea how to form a functioning midfield? Or defence? If Koscielny gets injured? We’re left with Per, Chambers, Holding and a couple of make shift Left backs. I wouldn’t exactly describe that as strong. Our full backs are of good quality, but we’ve not been playing them in their correct positions… mainly because of the available quality at centre half. Rambo+Xhaka doesn’t work. Coquelin+Elneny aren’t anything special. If you take Alexis+Ozil out of or forward line… then we’re left with Iwobi, Walcott, Welbeck. Not sure I’d describe that as particularly strong, not the worst but nothing particularly special there.… Read more »
You may well be right, I don’t disagree. On the other hand we’ve built effective teams out of this group, at the start of last season and the end of it. We won the FA cup, beating City and Chelsea in the process. We had a tough run at the end of last season and won almost every game. We’ve added Lacazette and Kolasinac, we should be stronger now. Ramsey and Xhaka can work. So can Elneny and Xhaka. Per was immense in the FA cup final. Holding was good, Chambers had a good season last season, Mustafi was good… Read more »
Not saying we shouldn’t be signing midfielders and defenders. Just saying that we could still have a good season with the group we have.
I think Ozil, Alexis, Giroud, Lacazette, Walcott, Iwobi and Welbeck is as good a group of attacking players as anybody in the league has, but it depends whether Ozil and Alexis actually bother …
Turn up? Some of them were definitely playing for liverpool.
Obviously, the Ox comes to mind…… what a shocker that game was. Lets hope its a bench mark never repeated, or beaten in terms of worse, worser. [I know that’s not a word, but it is now!]
Agree with both posts & all comments. The only thing missing is that this squad is all AW doing. If he pulls something off, then all credit too him (but would state he shouldn’t have made it that hard in the first place)
TBH though, just can’t see it happening. Completely baffled why we didn’t try to stregthen the midfield when there are obvious deficiencies there.
But as I said, this now ALL rests on AW & he should be held fully accountable.
We do seem to be determined not to do anything about that midfield, which has been a problem for about 3 years
I suppose we tried when we signed Xhaka, but he has been hit and miss so far
So true. When he was signed, Xhaka was meant to be the DM we’d been waiting for (I think Arseblog even described him as a Coq-Cazorla hybrid). £35m to finally settle this issue. Whatever happened to that? Obviously he’s been a stronger playmaker than defender. You get the feeling Arsene will never sign a primarily defensive focused midfielder. He only re-signed Flamini by mistake, since he was training with us anyway! It’s also interesting that Wenger described Xhaka as a box to box midfielder when he signed. I’m finding it harder and harder to understand what Arsene is thinking these… Read more »
Very much more hit than miss. One of Aw,s best signings
The midfield has been a problem (other than a few short intervals) since Paddy left, a lot longer than 3 years..
He’s proved the experts wrong for over a decade and we only finished 5th by ONE point! Hands over your mouth, you’re full up!
Think I better stop driving to the home games and start coming by train.
I think I may need beers on the way home this season.
It’s going to a lot worse before it gets better. Two more years of misery with this dictator. Catalyst for change my arse. The only thing that’s changed is that Kreonke is getting more money out of the club each year. We have become a mediocre club that will finish 8th. Sanchez should have been sold. Take the sixty million even if you don’t buy Lemar. January is only 4 months away. Sanchez will get alot of injuries. The first will be the week he gets back from the international break. UNFUCKING BELIEVABLE. What a waste of a board we… Read more »
Any more “performances” like Liverpool and Arsene won’t be able to last 6 months, let alone 2 years.
You really think he would be sacked, however bad we are?!
I think he might given what happened last season
I’d rather it didn’t come to that but even we have to draw the line somewhere surely …
I guess Matt Macey should be marked as homegrown also. If Bristol isn’t considered abroad of course.
I think it probably is to be honest
Who are we saying is backup RB/RWB?
Debuchy as 3rd choice behind amn?
Debuchy by the looks of it
Kolasinac.
My god….it’s almost as if they were trying to replace his foot entirely. Never thought it was as nasty as it seems to be!?!!
We need those feet back
“We didn’t sign anyone in midfield because currently we have many who can play in that position. We have Mohamed Elneny, we have Naser ElSayed, and not to mention Jack Andrew who can all fill in that spot when required.”
25 players out this summer with 2 coming in. No one signs a new contract. Saving money for a new manager to start building a new team in 2018. Sounds like a plan?
Perhaps
How old is Iwobi? He’s not on the list..
He’s on the U21 list so doesn’t need to be registered as part of the 25
Yeah that’s all well and good, but where is Reiss Nelson
On the same list as Iwobi?
Also U21
Homer Simpson: How much is this free resort weekend?
Glen: It’s free.
Homer Simpson: And when is this weekend?
Glen: It’s this weekend.
Homer Simpson: Uh-huh. And how much does it cost?
Glen: Um, it’s free.
Homer Simpson: I see. And when is it?
Glen: It’s this weekend.
Homer Simpson: And what are you charging for this free weekend?
Haha, brilliant.
With the Village People.
I have a different question: Where are Nelson and Iwobi?
Isn’t matt Macey homegrown as well, since he’s over 21?
Most of all can see Cazorla had injury problems, it’s just Wenger didn’t want or didn’t care to find a proper replacement for him.
..sigh..
The face that we brought no replacement for our probably most important player in midfield is beyond me.
Get well Santi!
This isn’t GoT. You can’t just replace faces like that. :p
No Alex Iwobi?
Nope gone to sail the ocean waves with Nelson. Wenger out!
I only count 17 decent players
Thanks for letting us know 🙂
How high can you count, though?
Bounce back year for Debuchy? He’s stuck with us. Might as well use him unless he’s turned into a completely crap footballer since his last injury.
This just rubs salt into the wound. Have they only just established the prognosis and timeline for recovery since the fucking window shut?
No is quite clearly the answer. So there is no justification for not replacing him. Even if santi does recover he’s coming towards the end of his career and is more at risk of further injury. A very long ‘3 weeks’ indeed. Sadly missed. Great player.
Bollocks!!!!
It’s ok we have that replacement for Carzorla that everyone could see we needed…..oh, actually, hang on a second…
Yeah we do – it’s Mr Jack Wilshere!
Actually Kolasinic.
Peep peep!! Baarp be barp!…
Four ‘keepers and Debuchy, not understanding that at all.
Having four keepers let’s you fill the void if one of your attaching midfielders gets a long term injury. Peep peep…
I think Iliev is also homegrown. He’s been at the club for four seasons, all of them he was an U21 so that’s more than the 3 seasons required between ages 16 and 21
It’s all a matter of getting the players to play with a cohesiveness. We will win more game than not. Our Achilles heal is the manager’s unwillingness to consider the opposition and play tactically. That said, I do think players had specific jobs when we played Shitty and Chelsky in the cup. We can so COYGS!!
None of us want to admit it, but Cazorla’s days are, very sadly, numbered if not done. It’s unreasonable to expect him to come back from this, it really is. We can/should hope and support him as much as possible, but he shouldn’t be an actual part of our team plans moving. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
And on a completely unrelated note – Ozil, take a bow, son.
TO MUCH IS MADE OF CAZORLA, HE IS NOT THE BE ALL AND END ALL OF ARSENAL, WE SHOULD FORGET HIM, AND MOVE ON HE IS HISTORY NOW, HE WONT BE THE SAME WHEN HE COMES BACK
Can Monreal play defensive midfielder? A serious question. We are so weak there, and I can’t believe we didn’t buy one. Or Kola? I know, he should be our left wing back but we can’t keep getting overrun in midfield. Monreal?
We are going to find solution for our midfield internally. 1) In terms of balance, Ramsey and Granit are not ideal. BUT neither were Flamini Ramsey yet they presided over a very decent spell over seeing defeat of City AND getting through a high pressure match away at Olympiakos. It was in fact when our better options return (alexis amongst others) that we actually dried up in front of goal. Ramsey then followed his ‘better’ instincts and push forward to try and add some firepower which led us to a couple of lob sided results against us as the aging… Read more »
Half that squad should/won’t feature near first team. IMO we are a bit unbalanced as a squad . To address this,we have to be a bit creative but clearly there are weak points. Two per position : Assuming 3-4-3 : …………………………..Giroud/Lacazette………………………….. ……………….Alexis/Welbeck……….Ozil/Iwobi…………………… Kolasinac/Nelson……………………………………..Bellerin/Calum …………………Granit/Jack………….Ramsey/Coquelin………….. ………Monreal/Elneny……………………Mustafi/Holding……….. ……………………………Koscielny/Per…………………………….. ……………………………Cech/Ospina……………………………… Santi and a third choice keeper + walcott as another option offensive-wise. I think we should try Iwobi instead of Ramsey in deep midfield. Ramsey’s better instinct is too attack and is better in Ozil’s position ghosting into the box. Elneny did well in defense I thought. We should try him there either… Read more »
To questions regarding Iwobi and Nelson. The PL made provisionsfor players in that category:
“Under-21 players are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad.
For the 2017/18 campaign Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 1996.
Each club squad list is below as well as an additional list of each club’s registered Under-21 players who are eligible over and above the squad limit of 25 players.”
https://www.premierleague.com/news/84136
We have neglected to supplement Carzola in midfield to our detriment over past 3 seasons now.
Granit is exceptional with long ball but is yet to exert the experience and positional sense of Santi defensively covering in particular Coquelin doing more destructive work up front.
Ramsey’s better instincts is to attack but he can play a more restricted role if he is reminded forcefully.
I don’t think Wenger may have been convinced with other options in market.
With a decent manager and the right infrastructure, and an owner that gives a shit, we might scrape third. Could do with centre mid and players who’d like to play for us though.
Where’s Iwobi?
Right now we are a little bit f*cked but we still have a pretty good squad. The only thing that can make us contenders right now is tactics. Somehow Wenger seem to be losing it with his tactics but I guess he eventually woke up after that Liverpool game. We really needed reinforcement in the defence and midfield. The defence is the most vulnerable at this moment and I think January we will bring in a defender. Our fullbacks especially the right side is in danger, I’m not sure if Debuchy will cover Bellerin this season considering Wenger prefered Gabriel… Read more »