Arsenal youngster Brooke Norton-Cuffy has been selected by England for the upcoming Under-20 World Cup in Argentina.
The 19-year-old right-back spent the first half of the season on loan with Rotherham before moving to Coventry City in January.
Across the two loan spells, he has made 41 appearances in the Championship so far and could add to that tally in the coming days when the Sky Blues face Middlesbrough in the play-off semi-finals.
As a result of his domestic commitments, Norton-Cuffy will join up with his England teammates slightly later than anticipated. He could even miss the group stage matches with Tunisia and Uruguay should Coventry make it to Wembley on 26 May.
Brooke is one of 16 players in the squad who helped England win the 2022 European Under-19 Championship.
Brazilian winger Marquinhos is also set to appear at the tournament. Signed last summer from Sao Paulo, the 20-year-old made his debut for the Gunners in the Europa League and then joined Norwich where he made 11 appearances.
Brazil are in a group with Italy, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic.
Update
Academy goalkeeper Alexei Rojas has been included in Colombia’s squad.
The 17-year-old earnt his first cap at Under-20 level back in a friendly against Peru last December having previously played youth football for England and Russia.
Is Norton-Cuffy a player who can realistically make it with us?
Difficult to say. It seems he has been a big part of Coventry’s unexpected push into the playoffs and we could probably get a decent fee for him, especially if they go up. As a right back he hasn’t set the world alight attacking wise. Only 2 assists and 0 goals in the Championship. His pass completion rate is quite low for a top level club (below 70%). Compare that to Ben White who has 86% in the PL (although 5-6 years older). He doesn’t have a huge passing range although he does progress the ball more often than not.… Read more »
All in all I would conclude he’s probably not at the technical level required by a club like Arsenal. Having said that, I could be completely wrong.
His is 19 and you compare him with White who cost us 50 million, let’s let Arsenal make that judgement not you.
To be fair I don’t think Jeremy was saying anything else…apart from doing a fair job of responding to the OP with some stats.
I agree, and will be delighted if he makes it. Who doesn’t love an academy success story? That said, Benjamin’s price tag has nothing to with it. What matters is whether BNC is technically good enough to make it at Arsenal.
Did you say that about Gnabry too?
No
RBs at arsenal tuck in now, stay back, and help with the build-up. This requires a lot of short sideways and backward passes which helps with the pass completion rate. At Coventry, you are bombing forward all the time and firing crosses which defenders cut out for fun, which really doesn’t help with your completion rate. What we should be judging him at the moment is his one-on-one defending whuch I have no idea if he’s good/bad at. Mentality and physical profile are the next thing I’ll be interested in at this age.
Is that right, 24 nations and Arsenal have only two players, one of which we signed a year ago!
This is how it starts for young players.
I hope he has a great competition and makes it at Arsenal.