Arsenal were heavily active ahead of this season in terms of bringing young players to the club, with six prospects brought in.
Here’s a look at how each of them have fared so far.
Nikolaj Moller
The Swedish striker, who was previously at Malmo, has hit the ground running, scoring three goals in six games for the U23s and helping Steve Bould’s side to drastically improve their form.
Despite his prowess in front of goal, it appears that Moller’s strength could be his link-up play as he often uses his height to excellent effect, while he has combined effectively with Folarin Balogun.
Moller is starting to train regularly with the first-team and could well make his senior debut at some point in 2021.
George Lewis
A rather surprise signing, the winger made a good impression during the early stages of his Arsenal career before an injury stopped him in his tracks.
Lewis scored against Tottenham Hotspur in a pre-season friendly and then netted against Ipswich Town in the EFL Trophy, while he also featured fleetingly for the first-team in a friendly versus MK Dons.
The 20-year-old will now hope that he can stay fit so he can demonstrate what he is capable of on a regular basis.
Tim Akinola
Prior to Akinola’s arrival, Arsenal were sorely lacking a defensive-minded midfielder at U23 level, and the 19-year-old has helped to fill that void.
It is clear that Akinola doesn’t possess the same technical qualities as many of his team-mates, but the former Huddersfield Town youngster is effective at breaking up play.
At present it is difficult to envisage Akinola making a major impact at first-team level for Arsenal, but he still has time on his side to improve further.
Jonathan Dinzeyi
The centre-back crossed the divide to join Arsenal after leaving Tottenham Hotspur and he featured prominently earlier in the campaign.
However, in recent weeks Dinzeyi has been used sparingly due to several first-team centre-backs receiving runouts at U23 level.
Dinzeyi will hope that he can play regularly in the second half of the season as he looks to prove that he deserve an extended stay at the club.
Salah-Eddine
An exciting prospect who can play as a midfielder or out wide, Salah-Eddine showed some tantalising glimpses of his ability in the early weeks of the season.
However, the youngster then suffered an injury which he is still recovering from, although it is hoped that he will be back in action soon.
Salah-Eddine possesses much in the way of potential and he will look to catch the eye for the U23s in 2021.
Joel Ideho
A skilful winger who was previously with Ajax, Ideho has been eased in slowly at Arsenal, often featuring as a substitute.
An exciting player who relishes taking opponents on, he is still eligible to play for the U18s but will hope to mainly be involved with the U23s.
Given that there aren’t many right sided wingers in the U23s, he could well make that position his own for Bould’s side in the near future.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
A rather mixed bag, as could be expected but they’re still learning. We won’t be able to splash the cash much in the coming seasons (not without selling players or getting a loan from the owner, anyway) so the youngsters are one of the main ways to go. Good luck to them.
Feels like Akinola isba Coquelin type
My understanding is that, while there is solid upside at u-23 level, it’s the u-18 level that possesses the most exciting prospects with real fist team credentials. Any updates on the development of: Zane Monlouis, Omari Hutchinson, Charlie Pantino, Catalin Cirjan, and Miguel Azeez? Such is the potential of Azeez and Cirjan that both are regularly training with first team and one has already featured at senior level, though both are still eligible for u-18 football. I’ve get the sense that Monlouis could be the best cb prospect at the academy at all levels. Hutchinson appears to be a real… Read more »
You can also put Marcelo Flores in that category too. The way these young players are spoken about, would it be an exaggeration to say this is our best U-18 class yet?
Thanks for mentioning Flores. Yes, I read nothing but good things about his development as well.
Another wild card is this kid Kido Taylor Hart. Forgive me on this one because I’m very much guilty of YouTube analysis here, but that kid looks to have something special in terms of pace, dribbling and close control.
I wonder if he could develop into a potential first team player as well…
Ever? They would have to go some to be better than the class of 1984 which would have included Tony Adams, Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Merson etc.
Boilk
Injuries have got to be tough for young players. To lose half a season when everyone is growing and maturing so quickly around you is difficult to recover from but hopefully Lewis can do it and show how good he can be.
I also like Dinzeyi and Moller both for their height. Important in the modern defender and we could definitely use a tall, technical striker in our squad again (since Giroud left we’ve been seriously lacking)
Would like to see Moller feature for us at some point. With the ammount of crosses we’re playing right now, we could use someone of his height, and at the same time, we miss that link up play from our strikers. Besides, Balogun and him seems to be a good partnership that could be our future.
Off topic, but just wanted to wish Andrew, James from Gunnerblog and all my fellow posters a very happy new year.
Let’s all hope the lads keep up the return to winning football matches for this wonderful old club that we all love.
Qwaliteee, Mrs Qwaliteee and the Qwaliteee kids. 🍾🥂
Catalin Cirjan?
Thanks for that Jeorge, seems that a few of them are just holding the fort until the rich talents of our U18’s develop.
Moller looks really good though.