Seven Arsenal academy players have been pictured with the first team ahead of the pre-season tour of the United States later this week.
Charlie Patino and Gabriel Jesus in training with the Arsenal first team (Photo via Arsenal.com)
The Arsenal first team returned to pre-season training earlier this week, but the club’s academy teams have already been back in training for a couple of weeks now.
The u21s played their first friendly on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Boreham Wood, and they’ll play their next fixture against Enfield Town on Tuesday night.
But ahead of that game, a number of u21 players were held back to instead train with the first team.
Ayden Heaven in training with the Arsenal first team (Photo via Arsenal.com)
Centre-backs Ayden Heaven, Zane Monlouis, and Omar Rekik, full-back Josh Nichols, and midfielders Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, and Charlie Patino were all pictured in training photos posted by Arsenal on Tuesday, joining the senior players for a session.
That’s potentially a significant inclusion, as the decision to have them training with the senior side instead of playing an u21 game suggests they have a chance to be involved for the first team on tour later this week.
The squad fly out to the U.S. on Sunday, so there will only be a few more sessions before they make the trip.
Myles Lewis-Skelly in training with the Arsenal first team (Photo via Arsenal.com)
In related news, Simon Collings reports for The Standard that it is hoped Arsenal will have back the players eliminated in the group stage and last-16 of Euro 2024 before Sunday’s flight.
That would mean returns for Jorginho, Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior, and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Kieran Tierney also went out early, but there’s no news on his injury status yet.
There’s a suggestion that the likes of Kai Havertz, eliminated in the quarter-finals, could also link up with the squad part-way through the tour.
