The transfer window closes tomorrow night but there will still be the opportunity for some of Arsenal’s youngsters to join Football League clubs either permanently or on loan until October 16th.
One player who is a prime candidate for a temporary departure is Daniel Ballard, who already possesses plenty of experience at U23 level and, at the age of 21, is at the stage where he wants to be playing senior football on a regular basis.
Ballard’s loan spell at Swindon Town last season was frustratingly cut short by injury but he is now fully fit again and has been involved in numerous first-team training sessions with Arsenal.
Although Ballard, who possesses an excellent work ethic, featured for the U23s recently, it would be difficult for him to break into the first-team setup this season given the significant amount of centre-backs ahead of him. A callup to the squad for the Europa League wouldn’t be out of the question if he was to stay, but Ballard would surely benefit more from playing regularly on loan, perhaps at a League One club.
If Ballard did go on loan then he may return next summer to see that several of the senior centre-backs have moved on. In the meantime he could be gaining plenty of valuable experience.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
A bit out of context.. who else enjoyed Liverpool getting ripped apart?
Another remained that we gave them too much respect when we played them at Anfield. Should have definitely gone for it.
The league seems to be wide open at the moment.
Come on Edu and Co sign someone FFS.
Yep happy for Martinez as Liverpool had 8 shots on target so he must have saved a few. Thankfully gone are the worries of Liverpool or Man City going the season unbeaten. It got hairy a bit last season with about 10 games left. Our record will live on.
As for Ballard, the article didn’t mention it but he retains his place in the latest Northern Ireland squad. Hope he gets a loan deal this month.
I think we should be thinking about loaning out more, probably defenders “earlier” in their career. I think playing even in League Two would be a massvie experience for them. Playing even against low league adults is a different kind of animal compared to U-23. We should still keep some CBs for the youth teams of course. But as you brilliantly said, Daniel should look a step further. Probably Saliba will play in those EL games if he is not loaned out. If that is the case, I would play Ballard ord Clarke. I think we have not given any… Read more »