Arsenal boss Unai Emery has invited seven academy players to train with the first team to make up the numbers with the senior squad at London Colney.
A number of Arsenal players will be away on international duty the next fortnight and it will hand some of the young talents at the Emirates the opportunity to rub shoulders with the senior stars during training.
Seven of the Under-23s squad joined in on Wednesday’s session with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin and Alexandre Lacazette.
One of those was Gedion Zelalem, who is still battling back to full fitness following an agonising 16 months out of the game due to injury. Emile Smith Rowe, who made such an impact during pre-season, was also involved, as were Tolaji Bola, Julio Pleguezuelo, Nathan Tormey, Robbie Burton and Charlie Gilmour.
All will be hoping to catch the eye of Emery given the Europa League and Carabao Cup games start up soon after the international break, with Arsenal’s head coach expected to rotate his squad for those two competitions.
