RVP Left Out As Arsenal Confirm 24-Man Squad For Asia Tour

Arsenal have announced the 24-man squad for the Club’s 2012 Tour of Asia and as expected, captain Robin van Persie will not be travelling.

As revealed on Arsenal.com on Saturday morning, manager Arsene Wenger named his squad with the most notable absentee being Van Persie due to the speculation over the strikers future.

It was widely reported on Friday that RVP wouldn’t be heading out to Asia with the squad after the club rejected three bids from Man City, Man Utd and Juventus. Wenger has given the predictable line of he’s staying home to ‘work on his fitness’, but it’s far more likely the captain of the club has been left behind to sort his future out.

There are some other big names who will be keeping Robin company in London. Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud will not travel as they are not fit enough to play competitive games yet, while Tomas Rosicky is ruled out through injury.

The likes of Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Song, Mikel Arteta, Thomas Vermaelen and Gervinho all travel though so there is a good mix of youth and experience.

Arsene told Arsenal.com:

“Some of them [will not go on tour] because they are too far behind to be competitive,” explained Wenger. “But most of them will go.

“The German players [Podolski and Mertesacker] are just back in training on Saturday so they will be late. Some players have to work on their fitness so are a bit behind, like Van Persie, like Koscielny, like Giroud, who came in later. They are not ready to play games.”

Here is the confirmed Arsenal squad:

Vito Mannone
Ignasi Miquel
Chuks Aneke
Thomas Eisfeld
Marouane Chamakh
Ryo Miyaichi
Craig Eastmond
Nico Yennaris
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Francis Coquelin
Kieran Gibbs
Alex Song
Lukasz Fabianski
Carl Jenkinson
Theo Walcott
Wojciech Szczesny
Johan Djourou
Benik Afobe
Thomas Vermaelen
Abou Diaby
Andre Santos
Gervinho
Mikel Arteta
Kyle Bartley

What are your thought on the squad? Get involved in the comments section.

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