Arsenal have confirmed that midfielder Ben Cottrell has joined Slovenian side NS Mura in a permanent deal.
Having joined the Gunners at the age of 8, Cottrell climbed through the ranks to become a regular for the under-18s and under-21s.
Mikel Arteta clearly rated the player and his progress was rewarded in December 2020 with an appearance off the bench in the 4-2 win away at Dundalk in the Europa League.
Cottrell will be the first Englishman to ever play for NS Mura; a side who beat Sp*rs in the Europa Conference League a couple of seasons ago.
It’s certainly an interesting move and in his first interview with his new club, he said:
“I’m delighted to be here and I can’t wait to join my new teammates in training. I know about the successes that the club has achieved in the past years and I hope that we have a good and successful season ahead of us, in which we will manage to qualify for the European competitions and also do well in the cup competition.
“I believe that I made the right decision to come to Mura, where I can progress and I promise that I will do everything to restore the trust of the club with successful games.”
Elsewhere, there have been loan moves for a couple more academy youngsters. Attacker Billy Vigar has joined Eastbourne Borough (and already opened his account against AFC Wimbledon) and goalkeeper Hubert Graczyk has joined Slough Town.
Good luck to him. Nice country, not an easy language to learn.
Most Slovenians speak good English, but still very brave of him and not a typical move for an English kid, really hope it goes well for him
🥺
Hope he does so well that we regret the buy back clause when he is recruited by Inter.
Good luck to you, lad.
Question from an AFC Wimbledon fan. I’ve had a soft spot for Arsenal since Wright then Wenger. But my support for your club was strengthened when The FA ruled that Wimbledon could be moved to Milton Keynes. Football fans across the company denounced the decision, but Arsenal Independent Supporters Association (or some similarly named group) were the first. AISA (or whatever it was called) gave a strong positive message and offered moral support to Wimbledon fans in setting up our new club. I’ve looked online to find evidence of that announcement but can’t find it. Can any of you remember… Read more »
Hi, maybe contact AISA directly. I don’t remember it myself, but they’ve been going a long time and I’m sure someone can help.
https://aisa.org/
Thank you. I should have probably tried there first right?
Thanks for Nigel Winterburn: one of my favourite ever Arsenal players.
Shame about that penalty miss in the 1988 League Cup Final, though.
I’ve just about forgiven him now.
I was too young to ever see him in Yellow and Blue. Great player though. So many from that era had amazing will to win.
At one point looked to be on the same track as Saka and ESR but I think he got injured and then all momentum vanished. Hope he does well in Slovenia!
Yea I remember watching him in one of the Cup games (don’t quote me on that) but I definitely recall thinking he was the next one from Hale End who was going to make the jump. Shame
Always impressed me whenever I saw him play for the youth teams. Good luck with the next chapter of your career, Ben.
Really brave decision and I hope it goes well for him. Robbie Burton has shown that going off to a lesser league for playing time is no guarantee at all, but people like Dani Olmo have shown with the right attitude what a good option it can be!