Brooke Norton-Cuffy was named Arsenal’s scholar of the year this week and it’s safe to say that the award was fully merited.
While many of his fellow members of the 2020 intake were playing for the U23s or the U18s, Norton-Cuffy was gaining experience of senior football at Lincoln.
The right-back received rave reviews for his performances in League One, and there is now much excitement regarding what the future could hold for him at Arsenal.
In the immediate term, the 18-year-old will return to London Colney for pre-season training, where he will look to impress Mikel Arteta.
A decision has yet to be made as to what will happen with Norton-Cuffy next season, and it is likely that pre-season will be key in that regard. Staying at Arsenal and potentially featuring in the Europa League would be useful for his development, but perhaps a whole season out on loan may be of greater benefit.
Whatever transpires, Norton-Cuffy has now put himself in a position where instead of simply playing U23s football next season he will be pushing for first-team involvement in some capacity, whether at Arsenal or out on loan.
Norton-Cuffy is an impressive reader of the game and will hope that in the long-term he can challenge Takehiro Tomiyasu to be Arsenal’s first-choice right-back.
For now, the club face a difficult decision over what the next step should be in his development.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Excited to see what he can do in pre-season. Big future ahead for Norton-Cuffy!
He’s already being called Norton-Cafu by some
While I love it, its important he doesn’t get hyped too much. A lot of pressure for young shoulders!
I’d keep him next season. Backup to Tomi with Ben White also able to cover there.
Also with 5 subs/ Europa next season we should be able to ease him in nicely without massive pressure on him.
Good points.
Hoping with the increased opportunity in EL and Subs some of these youngsters can earn Artetas trust and stake their claim.
I don’t think the five subs angle is getting enough consideration in discussions about squad building. It really makes a big difference when it comes to giving fringe players minutes and keeping first 11 healthy (the two go hand in hand, of course).
He’ll get max 10 games. And that’s being generous.
A loan to a championship club makes more sense. Potential to get 50 games next season
Plenty of cup games and maybe some time in early europen games and then out on loan in January would be my guess for him.
Considering Cedric still has 2 full seasons on his contract and I don’t see him going anywhere this summer, I’d loan out BNC to a nice club for the season. Hopefully he comes back ready to be Tomi’s backup next summer – if we make CL, we will need quality depth.
This.
Spot on here.
Nottingham Forest would be a good shout as they would need to replace the out going Spence
I think efforts should be made to move Cedric on. He’s ok. Sometimes very good but sometimes not up to scratch and too predictable. I’d like to see an upgrade on him this season brought in (or Norton Cuffy promoted), unless Bellerin somehow ends up staying.
With Norton Cuffy, as the old saying goes “if you’re good enough you’re old enough”.
Zak Swanson has been a regular feature on the bench in the 2nd half of the season – would he not be ahead of BNC as Tommy’s back-up?
One player has impressed on loan while the other one made the bench a bunch of times but only due to injuries.
Or was he only on the bench because Norton-cuffy was away on loan
I’m really excited to see the next gen in the Europa League next year. Would have preferred CL of course, but I have learned to enjoy watching our kids shred eurotrash on Thursday nights.
Great News
This guy can be an absolute beast!
Send BNC back to Lincoln…
Once an Imp always an Imp!
What a player Brookie is going to be…
looks like a strong player with decent pace and ability on the ball, pre-season and potentially europa league group stage matches could be huge for BNC and other young players to work their way into the manager’s thinking.
some might be calling for cedric to be shipped immediately, but if he’s playing so BNC can get another year of senior football (perhaps at championship level) under his belt, we could have a real player on our hands!
Looks like a fantastic talent doesn’t he. Still only 18 which is incredibly young for a defender so I don’t think he’ll be taking over Cedric this season. Cedric will get the Europa League group stage games so it’s a balancing act – do we send BNC on loan for another year – he gets game time at lower league but the downside is that means 18 consecutive months of lower league training instead of London Colney training with the first team squad. I suspect we’ll keep him at the club for the first half of the season, and then… Read more »