Brentford have confirmed the signing of Josh Dasilva after the 19-year-old midfielder turned down a contract extension at Arsenal.
The England youth international has signed a four-year contract at the Bees after an 11-year spell as a Gunner that saw him progress through the ranks from Hale End to London Colney.
He leaves the Emirates having made three appearances for the first team in the League Cup last term and had been expected to stick around for this season.
We are delighted for @joshdasilva_ who has signed permanently for @BrentfordFC on a long-term contract. Congratulations and good luck Josh! ? pic.twitter.com/X4vKZiIkrf
— Base Soccer Agency (@BaseSoccer) August 21, 2018
Speaking about their new signing Phil Giles, Brentford FC Co-Director of Football, said: “Josh elected not to sign the new contract offered to him by Arsenal, which shows he is understands the importance of starting to play regular First Team football.
“It is great that Brentford now has a reputation for being able to offer that to the best young players and that they are keen to join us.
“It also helps that we play football in a way that Josh will be used to from his upbringing at Arsenal. We look forward to watching him develop over the coming seasons.”
Josh adds to the number of promising talents who have been released or opted to quit Arsenal this summer. Goalkeepers Joao Virginia and Hugo Keta signed for Everton and Brighton respectively, Stephy Mavididi joined Juventus, Vlad Dragomir moved to Hellas Verona and Yassin Fortune was snapped up by FC Sion.
Getting into the Arsenal first team is hard work and on the surface, it looks as though more and more young players are willing to take a step down to garner experience before pushing again for life in the top tier.
Good luck to Josh at Griffin Park.
Seems sensible for him, and really goes to show how good some of our young players are these days, if some of these talents aren’t even close to making the grade.
As an aside, I would love to see more of Smith-Rowe, maybe in the 10 or one of the wide players from time to time (other than just League cup games). No player is sacred now after all..
yeah, rowe should take ozil,s place in the team
Troll.
Please tell me there was a buy-back clause inserted!
I understand the need for these young players to leave and play regularly but at the sametime club should try their best to insert a buy back clause…
You can’t have a buy-back clause if the player’s contract expires and he leaves; in fact, you can’t have any clauses. (I am not sure if solidarity payments apply in this situation, though I doubt it.)
Arsenal should immediately stop being a breeding ground and a father Christmas.
The club should be more businesslike and professional
If just one player makes it from the academy to become a 1st team regular every 5 years or so (like Bellerin, Iwobi and AMN recently) then the cost saving justifies the academy cost from a business perspective. It’s a shame Jack moved on a free, but the likes of Nelson, Eddie N, Willock and ESR could make the grade as well.
As for ‘Father Christmas’, youngsters don’t develop in a set time-span.
If they do make the step up to senior football, when it happens can vary dramatically.
Breeding ground? Father Christmas?
Sounds like a hell of an end of year party!
The sad reality at the moment is that like the first team, youth players are running down their contracts. The top brass need to establish a ruthless culture with regard to this, eg offering contracts 2 years out from expiry and then actually selling the players if they refuse. Until they do (and for as long as there are better players in their way, young players will continue to leave on frees I think.
Famously the North Pole is a filthy, disease-ridden breeding ground thanks to Father Christmas. We can therefore only hope that we do not ourselves become a Father Christmas.
Being an England fan as well as an arsenal fan is good to see players are now starting to take a step down to play first team football rather than just collecting a wage.
Exactly! I’m actually pretty happy with these news. Seems a good move for him.
A lot of youngsters being moved on this summer, yet it’s the first team that really needs trimming
We have a first team squad of 23 players with 3 of those players out injured for at least 2 months. Not sure how trim you want the squad to be?
The promising ones didn’t get “moved out”; they left. Over the years we’re seeing many more talented players leave. Virginia, Gnabry, Madvidi, Willock, Da Silva, Dragomir, etc. Some will say “well if they’re so good why aren’t they making it?” which is short-sighted (Gnabry has gone on to better). In time we’ll see how it works, but it’s definitely bled down to the academy that in many cases staying at Arsenal and further getting “the Arsenal Education” actually hasn’t helped, as it only prepares them for life of Arsenal, which most won’t make anyways. So now many realise leaving early… Read more »
This is true of every big club; by definition it is easier to get into the first team at a weaker club. I don’t think it has anything to do with some fault of the Arsenal academy or of the Arsenal system–Guendouzi’s example shows that the same is true at PSG and I am certain the lower divisions in Spain are full of youngsters who decided they could not advance at Barca or Real Madrid.
I think there’s a case of Arsenal specifically as many managers of other clubs have made comments about how so many of our Arsenal players can only play a particular way (this can be confirmed with Jorge, who knows the academy better than all of us combined probably).
Worringly there’s been this thing where too many of our better academy players plunge into the depths of the football league. I think it was shown that many United academy players end up populating the Championship and League One, but too many of ours just disappear at a rapid pace.
Get some numbers to back that up; I don’t believe you will find any evidence that “many managers of other clubs have made comments about how so many of our Arsenal players can only play a particular way.” Maybe you will find one manager who said this, though I doubt it. Pundits are not managers.
Hi blogs. Sorry to post something irrelevant to this post, but can we have your take on this story please: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/20/ivan-gazidis-torn-ac-milans-big-money-offer-leave-arsenal/
Is Ivan about to jump ship and admitting Kroenke is not investing in the club, or is it just me? After 10 years of taking the CEO salary & bonus payments for achieving next to nothing on the pitch, and having sacked the most successful manager in the club’s history, he is leaving to avoid taking the blame for the “catalyst for change” bullshit. Nice one!
I liked what little I managed to see of Josh Dasilva.
It’s a pity that yet another talented player has left the Arsenal, but c’est la vie.
All the best Josh, and thanks for your contribution to the Arsenal.
Terminate Ozil’s contract right now Arsenal! How dare the guy plays this bad! FFS we already played TWO league games and that too against relegation fodders Chelsea and City!! If the Fraud can’t perform against these farmers what is the meaning of having him? After all it’s not like he is dealing with any trouble in his personal life.Dude basically had the whole summer off and enjoyed vacation,still performing like a bum.Shame to our club I say.
The fraud who has more assists and chances created than any other player in the 5 years he has been with us
So you are saying City and Chelsea are farmers and relegation fodders?
Sad when people just read the first and last line of what you said and starts bashing (granted I did rant for a bit but still!!!)
They really should make an actual sarcasm font.
See ya.
It is a strange one. He allegedly got interest from top clubs in Europe and he ends up signing for Brentford. So either he never had any big clubs offer or he just bottled it. Either way that does not make him look good. Also with the change of manager, had he stick around a little longer he may have gotten his chance, as it looks like Xhaka is losing Emery’s trust. As Unai is not afraid of pushing youngsters such as Matteo in central midfield and Willock showing that he is not yet fully ready, he may have had… Read more »