The latest edition of the U17 European Championships is underway, and Arsenal have three representatives at the tournament, all of whom are in the England squad.
England commence their campaign with an intriguing fixture against France tonight and can call upon Sam Greenwood, Miguel Azeez (pictured) and Yunus Musah, all of whom have enjoyed excellent campaigns at domestic level with Arsenal.
Greenwood, who signed from Sunderland last summer, was a major factor behind the U18s’ title success as he scored ten goals and also impressed with his link-up play.
Despite naturally being a centre-forward, Greenwood was frequently deployed on the right wing for Arsenal this season and operating in that position has helped the youngster to improve the defensive side of his game.
Next season Greenwood, who is set to sign professional terms in the summer, will be looking to push on further as he aims to break into the U23 squad.
Azeez, meanwhile, is still a schoolboy but is widely seen as one of the most exciting prospects in Arsenal’s academy at present.
The central midfielder is composed in possession and is extremely skilful, while he is also capable of finding the net from distance.
Completing the trio of talented Arsenal youngsters in the England U17s squad is another schoolboy midfielder in Yunus Musah.
Musah relishes pushing forward to join the attack and is capable of linking up play excellently.
Having already featured prominently for the U18s and in the FA Youth Cup, he possesses a considerable amount of experience with regards to youth football, and the U17 Euros should also be hugely beneficial for his development.
After taking on France, England will also face Holland and Sweden in the group stages as they look to progress in the competition.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Appreciate the youth coverage as always, Jorge! Watched a bit of Greenwood over the season and he’s really impressed me but how close is he to making it to the first team next season? Think he can have a similar sort of impact as ESR, in your opinion?
I think he will be involved with the U18s and maybe the U23s next season. Will probably be another 1 or 2 seasons until he is considered for the first-team as he still needs to get a bit stronger physically.
Thanks for the reply, Jeorge! That does seem like the obvious way to go. Just don’t want us to unnecessarily dip into the transfer budget if we can find internal solutions. I mean our academy looks packed with potential stars who, if given the right guidance, can potentially have a huge positive impact on the first team. Willock looks the closest to me so far.
France, Holland and Sweden, that’s a really tough group…