Manchester United, Liverpool and other top Premier League clubs reject Football League Trophy invitations

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all opted against entering their academy sides into the competition

The Football League Trophy competition has been revamped (Getty)

A number of top Premier League clubs were missing from the EFL Trophy group-stage draw on Wednesday after rejecting invitations from the Football League to include their academy sides in the revamped competition.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all opted against taking part, but the inclusion of Leicester and Chelsea will be considered a boost by the Football League.

It was announced in June that, in an attempt to refresh the competition formerly known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, 16 'category one' academy outfits would be invited to join the 48 sides from League One and League Two.

But, as revealed earlier this month, a number of teams initially invited passed up the chance to be involved, with fixture clashes and the number of games already played by academy sides among the reasons believed to have been given for the rejections.

Recently-relegated Newcastle joined 15 Premier League sides in being invited but also declined the chance to be involved, with the Football League extending the invitation to other category one academies in order of where the first team finished in the league standings last season.

The five teams who decided not to enter therefore saw their offers given instead to Norwich, Aston Villa, Brighton, Derby and Wolves and, with Villa deciding against taking part, Reading were also welcomed.

The reformatted tournament will see 64 teams split into 16 groups of four, on a north/south regional basis, each containing an invited club and they will play each other once, with the invited club playing one game at home.

PA