Mikel Arteta Calls for Expanded Matchday Squads in Premier League

Mikel Arteta has turned up the volume on a debate that has rumbled quietly in the background for years. Now he wants action — and he wants it this season.

The Arsenal manager has urged Premier League officials to expand matchday squads beyond the current limit of nine substitutes, arguing that player welfare is being compromised by rules he believes are outdated for the modern game.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, clubs have been allowed to name nine players on the bench, up from the previous seven. For Arteta, that step no longer goes far enough.

He has felt the impact first-hand. As Arsenal prepare to face Aston Villa tonight, the Spaniard pointed to high-profile examples from this season, when he has had to cut established stars like Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus from his matchday squad altogether. Not rotated to the bench. Left out completely.

To him, that is where the damage starts.

"That is why I have been begging Premier League officials to extend those numbers just for the safety of the players, which is the most important thing," Arteta said, making no attempt to hide his frustration.

He believes the demands of the modern schedule — particularly for clubs loaded with internationals — simply cannot be met with the current limits.

"I think every team needs more than 20 players on the pitch, ideally, to maintain the level of demand in the international matches we face, but these are the rules, and within these rules, we have to play," he continued.

The football calendar keeps swelling. International breaks, European competitions, long domestic campaigns. Managers talk about rotation, but Arteta insists that if the league wants to protect players properly, it must also give clubs the ability to keep more of them involved on a matchday.

His argument is not just physical. It is emotional, too.

He spoke about the strain of those "difficult" conversations with players who train all week, travel with the squad, live the intensity of preparation — and then are told they are not even in the 20.

"We need to be very close to the players to explain those situations in the right way, so that everyone feels their importance, because they will indeed be important," he said.

Those talks wear on him. Especially with senior players who would rather be in the dressing room, in the warm-up, on the bench, than at home watching their team on television.

"The question should be put to the players more than anyone else," Arteta added. "What do they want? If they say: no, I would rather stay at home, then we will have a problem because they will not like what they are doing."

He is convinced he already knows the answer.

"But I am sure that if you ask the players, everyone would want to be part of the team on matchday, otherwise you would have to tell one of them that he is not even part of the matchday squad. That is extremely hard. And it will not benefit anyone."

For Arteta, the issue cuts across performance, psychology and long-term planning. Leaving players out of squads, he argues, distorts how they are judged, disconnects them from the group and chips away at their sense of belonging.

"This does not benefit the club, nor does it benefit the assessment of the player, nor does it help them feel part of it. In my opinion, it is a real problem and it has a very simple solution," he said.

The solution, in his eyes, is clear: raise the limit, keep more players involved, and match the rules to the reality of elite football in 2024.

Now the question is whether the Premier League is ready to move as quickly as he wants.