Although he is yet to make his first-team debut, Matt Macey has become a familiar figure around the senior squad this season.
The tall goalkeeper, who was plucked from the Bristol Rovers academy in 2013, has been on the Arsenal first-team bench in all four major competitions this season, including for high-profile encounters such as the Champions League trip to Barcelona.
While he didn’t enter the field during any of those games (the closest he came to doing so was when David Ospina suffered an injury against Everton) Macey certainly appears to have reaped the benefits of becoming increasingly involved with the first-team squad.
The shot-stopper hadn’t played at any level for a while but he has recently been drafted back into the U21 set-up and has made some noticeable improvements as a consequence of his first-team excursions.
Macey produced a stellar performance for Arsenal U21s against Derby County this week as he made several fine stops in what could prove to be a crucial victory as far as the youth side’s quest to earn promotion is concerned. He was similarly impressive against Swansea yesterday and, although he conceded three goals, Macey helped to keep the scoreline down by making some terrific reflex saves.
There was a fear that Macey would be released at the end of June with his previous performances having not been entirely consistent. The club have shown their faith in the youngster, however, by awarding him a new deal and the goalkeeper seems likely to go out on loan for at least part of next season in order to further his development.
If such a scenario transpires Macey will be seeking to fare far better than he did in his previous temporary stint as last season he endured a nightmare spell with Accrington Stanley, during which he conceded with regularity.
The goalkeeper has improved since then, although making the grade at Arsenal will still be an extremely difficult task, not least because he has some extremely talented prospects pushing him for a place in the U21 side, such as Ryan Huddart and Hugo Keto.
For now, though, Macey can be pleased with his development this campaign. Alex Iwobi is a shining example of the benefits of being increasingly involved with the first-team and now Macey is also reaping the rewards. The 21-year-old will hope that next season will be even more successful.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Why is he wearing an outfield shirt? Goalkeeper kits are supposed to be ridiculous.
It’s a training/warm up top.
I wonder how the goalkeeping situation will be treated because we are now blessed with incredible talent in that position. Our goalkeepers are all just slightly older/younger than each other. 2 year gaps at most between their ages. I hope we keep the right ones, but I will support them all the way even if we let the wrong ones go….
Matt Macey. My favorite thing about him is that he’s listed the same height as Petr Cech but in the team photo he’s half a head taller.
http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/desktops/sep_15/gun__1441957930_0.jpg
I guess the players knew how this season was hoing to turn out as hardly any of them smiled for the team photo.