Arsenal have confirmed that Ben Sheaf has joined Coventry on a season-long loan.
The 22-year-old, a contemporary of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, spent last season on loan at Doncaster Rovers and has also spent time at Stevenage Town since making a couple of brief cameos for the Gunners at the tail-end of Arsene Wenger’s time in charge in 2017.
The Frenchman was a big fan of the midfielder, saying at the time: “He’s always ahead of the game and his anticipation quality is absolutely huge.
“He has that kind of mental strength as well. A typical British way of handling things, facing the difficulties with a very cool and intelligent way.
“There is something in him that I believe will allow him to progress always. Because he analyses well what’s happening to him, he assesses well what is going on and that’s why I believe he will have a good career.”
Understandably, Coventry are pretty chuffed with their signing. Speaking about Sheaf’s arrival, manager Mark Robbins said: “We’re very pleased to announce Ben’s arrival at the Club.
“He’s a player with great pedigree and ability, who will really add to our squad for the Championship season ahead.
“He’s got a good physical presence and a footballing brain as well, and will be a real asset for us during the campaign.
“We thank Arsenal for agreeing to loan Ben to us, and look forward to working with him.”
Given the Sky Blues, who play in the Championship, also have an option to buy Ben at the end of the season, it looks as though his time at the Emirates might be coming to an end.
We wish him all the best for the year ahead.
Like these arrangements, can’t see a downside.
Good luck to him there, hope he learns a lot then comes back to challenge for a place at Arsenal.
“A typical British way of handling things”
So he’s going to be massively underprepared and then try and disassociate himself from all his teammates.
“A typical British way of handling things”
He’ll exit from his Arsenal contract and then be outraged when they refuse to agree to keep paying him 😀
“A typical British way of handling things”
He’ll be arrested for a drunken fight in a bar in Greece. Try to escape, fight and bribe the police. Then call them a bunch of lying foreigners
I thought he looked a really promising midfield player when I saw him in the League Cup, but for some reason the reserves started playing him as a centre back and I still think that it slowed his progress.
Good luck to him I hope he has a long and successful career.
Whatever don’t kill you makes you stronger
What doesn’t kill you… weakens you
Yes, it’s a tricky thing trying to judge “potential”. Arsenal have been guilty of letting several youngsters leave (permanently) for little or nothing probably without giving them a fair chance at a big cost to the club. Not sure in this case, but it looks like Ben’s time at Arsenal may be coming to an end. Good luck to him though.
Is there a single young player other than Gnabry who left Arsenal and would be in our squad now? (Gnabry, a German who is playing for Bayern as all Germans inevitably do, is a special case.)
Donyell Malen? Ismail Bennacer? Rene-Adelaide? Those are the popular names. I think Malen will really bite us in the ass. He will go again to a bigger club in 2-3 years and be a really good player there. Probably a PL team. But with Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Eddie we have other very good young attacking options.
I seriously hope things work well for him at Coventry, and that he forges a good career for himself. To go off on a tangent, is there any news on the friendly victory over QPR – and why it is clouded in so much secrecy?
I thought the same. I wondered whether a certain person might have been playing for the first time in months and the club just didn’t want any hysteria around it.
Another game tomorrow too.
Maybe Arteta just doesn’t want much publicity at this time.
So far as an internet search can find, we won the match 4-3 and the QPR site mentions that Arsenal put out a strong team but doesn’t detail who played for Mikel Arteta’s side, nor who scored. It’s rumoured that Lacazette, Smith-Rowe, John-Jules and Aubameyang all scored for Arsenal. Miguel Azeez was believed to be with the squad, as he posted a picutre of his uniform on social media with the caption “Game Day!”.
According to Mark Robins it is an obligation to buy assuming certain clauses are met.
Strange clause as it might incentivise then not to use him as he nears that point if they’re not 100%, this limiting his game time/development
Looks like he may be moving out of the exit door permanently if he does well there. In any case, good luck to him whatever happens.