After an extended preparation campaign that featured multiple friendlies and training camps, Arnold has named 14 players from A-League clubs in his squad alongside nine European-based players.

With Tom Glover, Denis Genreau, Connor Metcalfe and Ramy Najjarine all selected, Melbourne City lead all A-League clubs with four representatives.

Sydney FC (Trent Buhagiar and Tom Heward-Belle), Western Sydney Wanderers (Keanu Baccus and Tass Mourdoukoutas) and Brisbane Roar (Aiden O’Neill and Connor O’Toole) joining City in sending multiple representatives to Arnold's squad.

Melbourne Victory (Thomas Deng), Perth Glory (Nicholas D'Agostino), Wellington Phoenix (Reno Piscopo) and Adelaide United (Al Hassan Toure) will all send lone representatives.

Former Glory prodigy and now Borussia Monchengladbach attacker Jacob Italiano highlights the foreign contingent set to link up with the squad, with AGF Aarhus’s Zach Duncan, SC Cambuur’s Daniel Bouman and Ipswich Town’s Ben Folami also selected.

Glaswegian-born Fortuna Dusseldorf defensive midfielder Joshua Laws will set his sights on becoming the nest Scottish-Australian breakout star with his selection.

“I am happy with the final make-up of our squad for next month’s Championship,” Arnold said on the squad’s release. “Over the past twelve months, we have considered many players both at home and abroad as we’ve looked to grow the pool of players available to us.

“To finalise the 23 players for this tournament was no simple task – we had over 50 players on our radar for this tournament, so we will arrive in Thailand with a strong squad and one that I believe will represent Australia well.”

“Between arriving in camp in Kuala Lumpur and our first game of the tournament against Iraq in Bangkok we have only nine days. As a group, it’s important that we are disciplined and focused from the outset as we seek to make the most of our time together.

“Our target in Thailand is to become the U23 champions of Asia, and we know if we can achieve that further opportunities will come the team’s way in 2020.

“Supporters in Australia will be familiar with many of the A-League-based players in the squad, but I am excited for the football community to learn more about some of the overseas-based boys throughout January, too.

“There are some fantastic young players in our squad with the potential to progress to the Socceroos in the coming years.” 

Running from January 8 to 26 - meaning players may be missing from A-League clubs up to round 17 of the season - 16 nations have qualified for the Thailand-hosted tournament.