Karl Hein is just 18 years old but the Arsenal goalkeeper has now been capped by Estonia at senior level on five occasions.
The shot-stopper, who is in his third season at Arsenal, was involved for Estonia against North Macedonia today and made some impressive saves during a 2-1 defeat.
Hein is established as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper at U23 level, except for the occasions when Matt Macey drops down from the first-team, and the youngster has made good progress during his time at the club.
There is still much work to be done as Hein is capable of making avoidable errors at times but he possesses much in the way of potential and in that regard he resembles a young Wojciech Szczesny.
Whether Hein will be able to match Szczesny by having a lengthy career at a high level remains to be seen but he is certainly heading in the right direction.
Having previously trained with the first-team on many occasions, he was an unused substitute in the Europa League game against Dundalk recently when Macey was out injured.
If Macey was to leave next summer and Deyan Iliev departed as well then it is possible that Hein could be promoted to the first-team squad as third choice goalkeeper.
However, it would perhaps be more beneficial for him to head out on loan and gain further experience of senior football.
Arsenal have other talented young goalkeepers at their disposal. Arthur Okonkwo falls into that category but his progression has slowed a little of late. After missing the entirety of last season with a health problem, Okonkwo recently found himself left out of the U23 squad due to a disciplinary issue (which is why the U23s were without a goalkeeper on the bench for the recent game against Manchester City).
That has benefitted Hein further and he is now looking to push on even more.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
when arteta finally gets sacked he’ll play. he says that young players play alot i have seen no willock or nelson playing in pl this season how can you say then that you play young players alot
But with most youngsters you have to be careful how you introduce them into the senior side on a regular basis, especially in the PL. You particularly have to be careful if the side is on a bad run, as we are at present – maintaining confidence for younger players is vital. If you want an example at Arsenal, look at Chambers. Bought as a 18 year old he was thrown into the “deep end” (literally) by AW – inc. CL games etc. That didn’t work. I suspect that there are few Gooners who would say that, as a 25… Read more »
I reckon players end up where players are supposed to end up. Some, like Chambers and Theo, develop quickly at a young age but don’t push on convincingly enough. Very good players like Cesc, Saka and Anelka just hit the ground running and go on to have incredible careers. Some start slow and pick it a little later like Martinez. There’s a good chance that between Eddie, ESR, Nelson and Willock, none of them will be quite good enough. And that’s fine if we make a bit of dollar out of them. But I don’t really buy this argument that… Read more »
Yup.. 40 million Chamberlain career under Klopp now looks exactly the same as the young Chamberlain career under Wenger…..Loads of potential but always on the fringes of the first team. Every time he makes an impact and look like he’s finally making it, got badly injured and went two steps backward. Very good young Wilshere, Diaby, sky is the limit but career curtail/curb by injuries. 5 million man Ramsey, early career curtailed by injury but under Wenger tutelage, trust and loads of patients, still went on to have a terrific career at Arsenal. Good academy players Song, Coq, Iwobi, big/good… Read more »
Arteta sacked? Ah fuck me. Sometimes you think the people on aftv don’t represent the whole fan base. Then someone comments something like that and you think maybe they do.
Is AFTV Arteta out?? There is a few streamers who are arteta out but I wouldn’t say AFTV is Arteta out.
Okonkwo needs to focus on his career, he was highly rated but if his attitude isn’t right then he’s wasting everyone’s time. It’s difficult to give our young keepers many chances and if Hein has the potential to succeed at Arsenal he should go out on loan where he can gain more experience. I was disappointed that we sold Emi and also that we spent money on a really uninspiring back up keeper, surely there was a player inside the club?
A link to the said performance for Estonia today: https://sport.err.ee/1159353/video-karl-jakob-heina-torjed-pakkusid-eesti-koondisele-ohtralt-kergendushetki
I have never seen him play, but his name has the ring of a legend; hope he becomes one at Arsenal, along with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.