Arsenal confirmed the permanent departure of Marcelo Flores last night, with the youngster signing for Mexican club Tigres.
Flores has excellent technical ability and often impressed at youth level but a loan spell at Real Oviedo last season didn’t work out as expected.
It is a shame to lose the 19-year-old, who has been capped by Mexico on three occasions, but his departure could open the door for others to get more opportunities at youth level.
In the early stages of this season Flores featured as a substitute for Arsenal U21s, with Charles Sagoe Jr having established himself as the main option on the left wing for Mehmet Ali’s side.
With Flores having now left, Osman Kamara could step up and become involved with the U21s on a more regular basis.
Kamara is capable of playing on either flank or up front, although he is perhaps most effective when deployed on the left wing.
With his pace and trickery, Kamara has often impressed for Arsenal U18s and he developed a reputation as a super-sub during the run to the final of the FA Youth Cup last season.
Now the 17-year-old could prove to be a useful option off the bench for the U21s, especially late in games against tiring defences.
Kamara featured for the U21s in pre-season before going back to the U18s but he could now be set to step back up to the second-string.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
George any sign of a big number nine coming through
Sorry Jeorge every time I put J it changed to a G
Khayon Edwards is the main striker for the U21s. There are some good strikers in the U18s like Benjamin and Oyetunde. Chido Obi is also worth looking out for.
Not enough is written about Arsenal not giving mins to academy players under the current regime. I get that we are challenging for top honors (which is great and I am loving it) and demands are super high competing with City, so you need two solid 11’s of top ready quality. But they could be mention that! Currently the topic goes under reported. The young/academy players in the current squad were already first teamers or bought from outside directly into the first team. Realistically (and presently), I don’t see future prospects of any academy players featuring meaningfully over the next… Read more »