Having impressed after joining the club as a schoolboy, Luigi Gaspar signed scholarship terms with Arsenal last summer.
However, injury problems have meant that the midfielder has spent the vast majority of his first season as a scholar on the sidelines.
There was finally some positive news for the 17-year-old yesterday as he was included in the matchday squad for a competitive U18 game for the first time.
Gaspar entered the fray for the final nine minutes against Southampton, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw.
The Brazilian youngster will hope to make further appearances in the final six league games of the season, and there is also the possibility he could be called up for the FA Youth Cup squad if others are unavailable.
An impressive passer who is effective at breaking up play, Gaspar was previously at Corinthians before making the switch to Arsenal shortly after his father Edu was named as the Gunners’ technical director.
Given that he has missed a significant proportion of this season, Gaspar knows that next season will be hugely important for his development as he looks to show that he deserves a professional contract.
—
Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
A spluttering start for Gaspar but he’ll a breath of fresh air inhale end.
Good news – thought we may be dealing with last Gaspar for a while.
If anybody got a chance of making it, e du
I can just picture him scoring a goal for the senior squad and the announcer being like LUUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGIIIIIIIII
What was his injury? Seems like a long time to be out.
So glad that no-one’s mentioned anything about nepotism here ….. oopsey!
Mourinho was a very poor player and his father who was the coach used to play him. The president of the club had to threaten to fire the father if he ever plays him again.
I’m pleased for him, I’d love for him to make it at Arsenal. Young players seem to get a lot of injuries around that age, is there a big step up in intensity or a possible reason?
Probably a combination of their age (still growing etc.) and increased intensity in training – necessary to enable them to compete with bigger/heavier opposition but which also can lead to more injuries. A “Catch-22” of sorts.
It’s natural – they’re transitioning from part-time to full-time footballers (since they no longer have to go to school) and so their body sometimes needs time to adapt to the new intensity. Smith Rowe, for example, took until he was 20 to get his body up-to-speed, so it’s fairly normal