Arteta's pushing the Premier League to let him name bigger squads

Arsenal's got a problem. Well, technically Mikel Arteta's got a problem, and he's making it the Premier League's problem now too.

Right now, English clubs can only name 20 players for matchday — three of them have to be homegrown. That's it. Meanwhile, La Liga lets teams name 23. Serie A? They're sitting pretty with 25. So Arteta's basically asking: why are we doing this to ourselves?

The Arsenal boss says the current setup messes with player welfare. When you're leaving players out of squads week after week, even though they're fit and ready, it gets in their heads. That mental side matters, especially when you're running a squad ragged across four competitions like Arsenal were last season.

And that's the real kicker — Arsenal actually won the league last year. They also made the Champions League final, the Carabao Cup final, reached the FA Cup quarters. That's a lot of football. A lot of minutes. A lot of injuries waiting to happen.

So yeah, Arteta's basically saying: look, everyone else gets bigger squads, the fixtures keep piling up, and somehow we're supposed to compete with a smaller pool? It doesn't add up. The calendar isn't getting lighter. If anything, it's getting heavier. More European games, more domestic cups, more midweek matches.

Whether the Premier League actually budges is another story. These conversations happen every few years, someone complains, everyone nods, nothing changes. But the gap between 20 and 25 players is real when you're trying to keep your squad fresh and your players' heads in the right place.