How does Madueke’s new homegrown status affect Arsenal? | OneFootball

Arsenal’s homegrown situation has changed with the news that Noni Madueke is now considered a homegrown player by the Premier League.

Photo via Arsenal.com

Arsenal summer signing Noni Madueke was listed as a non-homegrown player in Chelsea’s Premier League squad last season, which was believed to be because his time with Tottenham Hotspur’s academy was when he was still just a schoolboy – leaving at 16 years old.

Yet the Premier League rules don’t specifically give a lower age limit to obtain homegrown status, and The Athletic confirm that the player has now been reclassified as homegrown.

The change was actually made earlier this year, before the end of the 2024/25 campaign, with Chelsea or Madueke’s camp presumably pushing for it. Arsenal will just reap the benefits.

But whilst it’s nice that Madueke is homegrown from a Premier League perspective, UEFA rules require that you spend three seasons with an English or Welsh club specifically between the ages of 15 and 21. So Madueke still won’t count as homegrown in European competition.

Arsenal’s Premier League squad

Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images

*Homegrown

As a reminder, the Premier League has a 25-man squad limit, with a maximum of 17 non-homegrown players allowed. Though the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri remain too young to need including on the senior squad list.

In the Premier League, Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri can be named on the unlimited u21 list. In UEFA competitions, they can be included on “List B”, which is the u21 list equivalent.

The same is true for Cristhian Mosquera, who is young enough to be left off the Premier League senior list this season. But again, UEFA’s rules are different, and Mosquera can’t be included on their u21 list as he’s been at the club for less than two years. He’ll have to be named as a senior player.

As you can see above, Arsenal have 24 senior players from the Premier League’s point of view, just 15 of whom are non-homegrown. So there’s space for the imminent addition of Viktor Gyokeres without causing any issue.

Arsenal’s Champions League squad

Arsenal sign Cristhian Mosquera (via Arsenal.com)

*Homegrown

The situation is trickier here. As mentioned above, Mosquera has to be included as a senior player, and Madueke is not homegrown from UEFA’s perspective.

So adding Gyokeres will put Arsenal at 26 players for a 25-man squad, and 18 non-homegrown players with a limit of 17. A non-homegrown player has to go.

If the Gunners want to sign homegrown Eberechi Eze as well, they’d then have to sell or loan a second player, though it wouldn’t matter if that player was homegrown or not.

There are clearly some candidates for a sale or loan, notably the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Reiss Nelson, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira, and Oleksandr Zinchenko. But there hasn’t been significant progress on any of those fronts just yet.