Arsenal set pre-season return dates as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly eye US tour

Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are among the young players hoping to secure a place on Arsenal’s pre-season tour to the USA.

The Gunners fly out to the States on Sunday and, due to the Copa America and Euros taking place this summer, it has opened the door for youngsters to be on the plane.

Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are two of the brightest prospects from Arsenal’s academy and will hope to make the cut, but others are pushing to be involved too.

Nwaneri did his chances no harm by scoring in Arsenal Under-21s’ 4-1 win over Boreham Wood on Saturday and they are back in action on Tuesday at Enfield Town.

“We just want them to be ready,” Arsenal Under-21 boss Mehmet Ali said after the victory at Boreham Wood.

“This year we’ve got the Euros, which always has an impact on our pre-season and our first team’s pre-season, but we’ve had two weeks in and we’re just trying to get the lads as ready as possible before hopefully some of them get the opportunity next week to be with the first team, get some minutes in games that they will play and the opportunity to potentially travel to America.”

Arsenal are expecting players back at different stages of pre-season due to the Copa America and Euros.

Returning players have been divided into four groups, with the first of those including captain Martin Odegaard and others who were not involved in a major tournament this summer.

The next batch of players due back are those who went out in the group stage of the Euros - such as Italy midfielder Jorginho - and it is hoped they could return before Arsenal fly to the USA on Sunday.

After that, Arsenal will welcome back players eliminated in the last-16 and quarter-finals of the Euros, such as Germany striker Kai Havertz.

Those players involved in the final - Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, David Raya and Declan Rice - are not expected back until after the tour to the USA.

Arsenal kick off their tour by facing Bournemouth next week, before matches with Manchester United and Liverpool.