Arsenal forward Noni Madueke has been reclassified as a ‘homegrown’ player, the Premier League has confirmed to The Athletic.
The 23-year-old, who joined Arsenal from Chelsea last week, had previously been listed in the west London club’s squad list as recently as February as a non-homegrown player.
But the Premier League has since updated Madueke’s status internally after a request was made before the end of the 2024-25 season.
This means the £48.5million ($62.3m) signing will not need to be counted as one of the 17 non-homegrown players Arsenal are able to name in their 25-man Premier League squad.
Premier League rules stipulate a homegrown player must have been registered to the Football Association or the FA of Wales for three entire seasons before the end of the season in which they turn 21.
Madueke was not listed as homegrown on the Premier League player list last season (Premier League)
Madueke moved to Dutch Eredivisie side PSV from Tottenham Hotspur aged 16 in 2018 and remained there until January 2023, when he joined Chelsea two months before his 21st birthday.
The Premier League has confirmed, however, that he spent at least the required three seasons in Tottenham’s youth setup, despite not making a first-team appearance. It is thought that the lack of first-team appearances is where the discrepancy in the Premier League’s records arose.
So, according to the Premier League’s own documentation, for most of the 2024-25 season at Stamford Bridge, he was taking up a non-homegrown spot in Chelsea’s registered squad. The previous season, he was registered as an Under-21 player.
Though Madueke is seen as homegrown by Premier League regulations, UEFA rules differ.
Arsenal, who will compete in the 2025-26 Champions League, must submit two squad lists to UEFA: List A (the main squad) and List B (players born on or after January 1, 2004, who have been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years since turning 15).
UEFA rules state that eight players in List A must be “locally trained players”, which it defines as a player trained by their club (or another club in the same national association) for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.
Madueke, therefore, cannot be named as one of the eight locally trained players for UEFA competitions due to his time spent in the Netherlands.
(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
