AZ Alkmaar’s 17-year-old striker Myron Boadu has revealed that he came close to joining Arsenal before opting to stay at the Eredivisie club.
The teenager, a Dutch youth international, has enjoyed an impressive start to life in AZ’s first team, scoring three times and grabbing an assist in their opening four games of the season.
Boadu says the fact he’s now playing regular first team football justifies his decision to turn down the Gunners in 2016.
Speaking to Elf Voetball, he explained: “I will never forget the moment I got on the plane, I thought, ‘This may be an important day in my life.’
“If we had said yes, it would have had far-reaching consequences for our family. It was attractive to go, but I also got a very good offer from AZ.”
He added: “I’m playing in the first team now, I do not know if that would have been the case at Arsenal, where I would play with boys of my own age, which did not appeal to me.”
Time will tell if this is a miss for the Gunners. Moving abroad as a teenage striker, settling in new surroundings, earning first team minutes and making an impression, which as an attacker means scoring goals, is ridiculously hard. Very few players have done that at Arsenal in the last two decades. Perhaps he made the right decision…
Fair play, he made the right decision to stay. Most see a big £££ offer and end up stagnating their development in youth teams.
You made the right decision, Son. All that glistens is not gold.
The right decision. Eddie will hardly get much timeplay himself.
Good choice. Look at Donyell Malen. Playing (and scoring) for PSV. Doesn’t matter though, have high hopes for Eddie!
Yeah, and look at how well Kaylen Hinds is d… never mind.
Still pissed we lost Malen. One of my academy favs.
I can’t actually think of a single foreign youth age striker making it in the Premiership to be honest. It’s a very, very difficult way to break through.
Lukaku is the only one that springs to mind. Outside of that I’ve got no idea.
Gabriel Jesus was about 19 when he broke into the City team
Considering his fee and how highly he’s rated,he was bound to.
Iheanacho
Should of bought him and put in place a 2 year loan back to AZ. But to be fair I’ve never heard of this kid. Form is impressive though.