The frankly unbelievable reason why Mainoo, Yoro, Ngumoha and Leoni were left out of PL squads
Kobbie Mainoo, Leny Yoro, Rio Ngumoha and Giovanni Leoni were not named in Man United and Liverpool’s Premier League squads. No-one knows why.
Clue: it’s the same reason as every single year for the last age.
Plus, Gabriel Martinelli fires a parting shot at almost everyone on the planet.
Quicky Mart
It remains to be seen precisely when the Arsenal mutiny against Mikel Arteta for his treatment of Gabriel Martinelli will come to fruition.
For now, all we have is a farewell statement and…well, actually, that will do nicely.
‘Gabriel Martinelli savagely SNUBS Mikel Arteta following ‘uncomfortable’ end to Arsenal career’ – Daily Mirror website.
‘Mikel Arteta snubbed! Gabriel Martinelli aims dig at Arsenal boss in emotional farewell message after record £60m Al-Hilal transfer’ – Goal.
‘Gabriel Martinelli brutally snubs Mikel Arteta immediately after ‘uncomfortable’ £60m Arsenal exit’ – Football.London.
‘Gabriel Martinelli fires parting shot at Arteta after ‘uncomfortable’ Arsenal transfer’ – Daily Express website.
Mediawatch especially appreciates Football.London discussing how Martinelli ‘ruthlessly omitted’ Arteta, as if announcing a surprise when naming a Premier League or Champions League squad.
Except Martinelli did not specifically name a single person beyond his wife and family. He listed a number of Arsenal roles he wanted to thank, ranging from doormen to the media team and the chefs. But at no stage was any one individual referred to by name.
‘I can only thank the staff and my teammates,’ Martinelli wrote. Arteta obviously definitely certainly doesn’t fall into either category so consider this a savage SNUBBING of both the Spaniard and indeed every other person walking the earth who isn’t in his immediate family.
Why, why, why, Delilah?
Speaking of the Premier League squad announcements, it is easy to see why these SEO-friendly headlines exist…
‘Why Kobbie Mainoo has not been included in Man United’s 23-man Premier League squad list’ – Manchester Evening News.
‘Why Kobbie Mainoo, Leny Yoro and top talent are not in Man Utd’s Premier League squad’ – Daily Mirror website.
‘Why Rio Ngumoha has not been included in Liverpool’s 25-man Premier League squad list’ – Liverpool Echo.
‘Why Jeremy Jacquet, Rio Ngumoha, Giovanni Leoni are not in Liverpool Premier League squad’ – Liverpool.com.
‘Revealed: Why Kobbie Mainoo has been left out of Man Utd’s 2026-27 Premier League squad list’ – Goal.
…but Christ, when the answer every 12 months is ‘because they count as U21 players’, it isn’t half annoying.
Ask a simple question…
‘Can JJ Gabriel play for Man United after not being named in Premier League squad list?’ – Manchester Evening News.
Yes – Mediawatch.
Doubters into Balebas
Also…
‘Man Utd squad CONFIRMED for season as club drop hint over problem position’ – The Sun website.
The ‘controversial call’ is that Patrick Dorgu, who has played 77 games at left-back and no more than 37 in any other position, was listed as a defender in their Premier League squad and will likely provide cover for Luke Shaw.
And that, obviously is absolutely mental.
But what ever happened to Carlos Baleba’s ‘shock position change’?
Chelsea dagger
‘Chelsea stars prepare for Arsenal using RUGBY tackle shields in bizarre training bid to combat set-piece dark arts,’ is the headline on The Sun website.
This, we are told, is an ‘unconventional’ tactic, so much so that a quick Google search only chucks up England, Liverpool and Manchester United among the teams to have done it before. It’s basically completely unique.
The idea it is ‘bizarre’ or offbeat or in any other way unorthodox is slightly undermined by said RUGBY tackle shields having a massive Chelsea badge emblazoned on them. It’s not like they’ve panicked and got some off Amazon; they probably use them fairly regularly. They just don’t play Arsenal every weekend so the narrative doesn’t fit.
That narrative, by the way…
‘Arsenal’s team of goliaths like to crash towards the goalkeeper and almost pressure the ball home in many instances.’
Sounds like Chelsea are done for either way.
‘But Chelsea do have the joint-tallest squad in the league – alongside Leeds – and may have the antidote.’
Oh. To be fair, Mediawatch loves that part in the Old Testament which reveals that David is actually bigger than Goliath, but needs a rugby tackle shield to overcome him.
Rob the wrong way
The Daily Express website continues to have its fun with entirely accidentally implying that transfer stories – in this instance one that is close to two-decades old – are actually current events.
On deadline day they innocently implied that ‘Man Utd saved millions on record transfer deadline day signing thanks to clever clause’, hoovering up clicks about Anthony Martial’s 2015 signing from supporters desperately hoping for any sign of market activity in 2026.
And on Friday comes this really rather unfortunate case:
‘Chelsea lost £32.5m transfer deadline day race for player who ended up in jail’
Because really what reason is there to not relitigate Robinho moving to the Premier League in 2008, 18 years after the fact?
