France u23 coach Thierry Henry confirmed his call-ups for the summer Olympics on Monday morning, with the games set to take place in Paris this summer.
There had been plenty of speculation around potential inclusions in the squad, with three over-23 players permitted. In the end, former Gunner Alexandre Lacazette took one of those spots, joined by Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta of Crystal Palace.
Arsenal’s William Saliba was eligible for the squad as an u23 player, but he wasn’t included in Henry’s list.
Reports suggest the Gunners moved to block Saliba from a call-up, due to his inclusion in France’s Euro 2024 squad this summer.
The Mirror had previously confirmed that Arsenal could refuse to release Saliba, as the Olympics isn’t recognised by FIFA.
France are playing in the Euros between June 14th and July 14th, with the Olympics taking place from July 24th to August 10th.
Saliba has already been called up to France’s provisional Euro 2024 squad, so allowing him to take part in both tournaments would mean he’d spend the whole summer playing football.
Arsenal would then have to allow Saliba to go on holiday during the first three or four weeks of the 2024/25 club campaign.
Instead, with Saliba barred from Olympic participation, his season will end on July 14th at the very latest.
With Arsenal failing to qualify for the Community Shield, their season will begin on the weekend of August 17th. Even if Saliba is given a month off, he’ll be back with the squad by the time the Premier League campaign gets underway.