It has been a positive pre-season for Arsenal’s youngsters in several different respects.
Firstly, the most obvious plus points have been the performances of young wingers Alex Iwobi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide for the first-team in their preparation fixtures. Both players enhanced their reputations in the eyes of Arsene Wenger and supporters alike and are set to train frequently with the senior squad as the campaign progresses.
Indeed, Iwobi was an un-used substitute for the victory over Chelsea in the Community Shield last weekend and the Lagos-born youngster is now set to remain with Arsenal until January at least, rather than going out on loan as had been initially planned.
Another positive aspect of pre-season was that the club was able to secure loan deals for some of its best prospects. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Dan Crowley, Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden and Jon Toral are all set to spend part or all of the season developing elsewhere as they seek to prove that they are capable of making the grade at Arsenal in the long-term.
There have also been some positive results for the club at youth level during pre-season. Most notably, Arsenal U19s have reached the Final of a tournament in South Africa and will take on PSV Eindhoven tomorrow afternoon as they seek to win the trophy.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing for the young Gunners in the competition as they came close to elimination after losing to PSV in the group stages. However, they managed to prevail past Stuttgart in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in their Semi-Final fixture on Wednesday to set up a reunion with the Dutch side.
The hero in that game was goalkeeper Ryan Huddart (pictured), who made two excellent stops in the shoot-out to add to a catalogue of impressive saves he made earlier in the tournament. The 18-year-old is set to be Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper in their UEFA Youth League campaign this season.
Another player who has caught the eye in this tournament, albeit at the other end of the field, is forward Yassin Fortune. Tall, quick and skilful, Fortune’s arrival at the club has been rather overshadowed by that of his former Lens team-mate Reine-Adelaide, but the striker has settled in very quickly at Arsenal and scored an impressive goal against Stuttgart as he cut in from the left flank and finished adroitly.
It won’t surprise many that the Arsenal youngsters have struggled a little defensively in South Africa, but those deficiencies can partly be attributed to the fact that the Gunners have rotated their side throughout the tournament, rendering it difficult for the back four to develop any sort of cohesion.
If Arsenal do manage to prevail against PSV, though, then it will cap off an encouraging pre-season for the club’s youngsters and will hopefully be a precursor to some long-awaited success when the campaign gets underway for real.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Iwobi and Adelaide will be knocking on the First-Team door sooner rather than later. They seem to have moved ahead of Zelalem.
Not really. Zelalem will be playing in the Premier League this year, albeit with West Brom. Iwobi and Adelaide will get League Cup minutes (if that) and nothing more.
FFS, I should shoot myself for that one.
UN-thumb down. You may well be right. Zelalem has not progressed as we had hoped.
Sorry, I read “Zelalem” and thought “Gnabry”. Total brain fart.
Zelalem to West Brom? When did that happen?
I have been following the team here in South Africa. I think the defense has been the best for me in this tournament considering the way we play. the goals we have conceded have been mistakes by Hugo Keto or sublime long range goals. The team looks great though. The defense has had great performances considering the constant changes to the team. Steffan Oconnor is a talent, so calm on the ball and aggressive in the takle. he is a bit like Koscielny. Pleguezelo seems like Mertesaker with pace, very good at reading the game and a leader too. the… Read more »