Arsenal ask Premier League to increase matchday squad sizes

Arsenal have asked the Premier League to increase the size of matchday squads, with Mikel Arteta saying the current system is detrimental to player welfare. Top‑flight clubs can name 20 players for games, including a minimum of three homegrown players. In Spain’s La Liga, clubs can name a matchday squad of 23, while Italy’s Serie A allows 25.

Arsenal have competed on multiple fronts in recent seasons. Last year, as well as winning the Premier League, they reached the finals of the Champions League and Carabao Cup, as well as the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. With pressure increasing on the football calendar and players facing more matches, Arteta sees no reason why English teams should operate with smaller squads than those from other European leagues.

“I’ve been begging the Premier League if we can extend those numbers just for the welfare of the players, which is the most important thing, because I think every squad needs more than 20 outfield players, ideally, to sustain the level of demand in international games that we have,” Arteta said, as he prepares for the champions’ trip to Aston Villa on Monday night. “But these are the rules, and within the rules we have to play. We need to be very close to the players to explain those situations in the right way, for everybody to feel important, because they will be.”

Clubs can register a squad of 25 senior players – those aged over 21 – for the season, with at least eight homegrown. As a result, five senior players registered for the season miss out each game. Arteta has said it can be difficult to tell players they are not involved and that the news can negatively affect their wellbeing.

“The question has to be to the players. What do they want? If they raise their hands and say: ‘No, I prefer to stay at home and not travel,’ I think we have an issue because then they don’t love what they do, which is the matchday,” he said. “But I’m sure that if you ask the players, everybody would like to be part of the squad on matchday, because that’s the way that they can fulfil themselves.

“Otherwise you have to tell somebody: ‘You are not even part of this matchday,’ and that’s really tough. And it doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t help the club. It doesn’t help the valuation of the player. It doesn’t help the player feel part of something. It’s a real issue that has a really simple solution.”

Arteta added: “And all the clubs, because I’ve done the research with all the top clubs in Europe, we are not different to anybody. Most of them, 90% of them, they have more players than us. So we are going to have to deal with that.”