Arsenal have confirmed that goalkeeper Tom Smith will spend the second half of the season on loan with Colchester United.
The 21-year-old moves up to League Two from the National League having been recalled prematurely from a spell with Bromley.
While at Hayes Lane, Smith made 13 appearances helping them to sixth in the table.
🔢 Tom will be wearing number 12 in his time with the U's! #ColU | #WeAreUnited pic.twitter.com/giJUbG7ByR
— Colchester United FC (@ColU_Official) January 30, 2023
Smith is one of a number of academy players who’ve done a mid-season switcharoo.
The likes of Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Miguel Azeez, Arthur Okonkwo and Ovie Ejeheri are also embarking on their second temporary moves of the season.
We suspect there may well be a few more who do the same on deadline day.
The transfer news we have all been waiting for
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I thought I could channel some of the energy from the previous post and add something like “Are we fucking serious?! We’re loaning Tommy Smithy to Cholchester?! He should be our current number 1, this is absolute madness…”. What do you think? Still needs a little work, dunnit?
Think this is a good move in general.
Instead of spending the full season that is unproductive, recalling back from a loan and re-loaning again makes sense esp when the loanee is not playing, which thus restrict growth