Although there were a host of Arsenal youngsters who were in need of moves ahead of the transfer deadline, only one move ended up happening on the final day of the window as Maldini Kacurri joined Bromley on loan for the rest of the season.
The tough-tackling centre-back has already made his debut for the League Two side as he played 77 minutes in a 3-3 draw with Salford City on Tuesday.
Kacurri has made impressive progress over the past year, which is shown by the fact that he has managed to secure a loan move after only signing professional terms last summer.
It is hoped that Kacurri will be able to feature prominently for Bromley, who are managed by former Arsenal academy goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman.
As ever, when a player goes on loan it opens up an opportunity for another youngster in the Arsenal U21 squad and Brayden Clarke may well be the main beneficiary from Kacurri’s temporary departure.
A Wales U19 international who was previously at Wolves’ academy, Clarke has been a regular for Arsenal U18s since joining in March last year and has impressed in the FA Youth Cup this season.
Clarke is mainly a centre-back but he is also capable of playing at right-back and seems ready to step up to the U21s on a regular basis, especially given that he already has a professional contract.
Will Sweet, who is also a Wales youth international and the captain of the Arsenal U18 team, is another centre-back who is on the fringes of the U21 squad.
—
Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
I do like these articles about the youth team, but I feel they’re sometimes a bit formulaic. Almost every article has a sentence saying something like “X, who mainly operates as a CM but has played at LB in recent weeks”. I would like more details and information about the youth team – who are the best prospects, how they’re doing tactically etc, and I think a lot of people would be very interested in this type of content.