Arsenal’s 13 new scholars signed their contracts this week, with Hale End product Elian Quesada-Thorn amongst the players stepping up to London Colney.
Having featured fleetingly for the U18s towards the end of last season, Quesada-Thorn will be aiming to gain plenty of further experience at that level under coach Dan Micciche, who has stepped up from being in charge of the U15s.
Quesada-Thorn is eligible to play for England or Costa Rica and is capable of operating at left-back, although he is more frequently deployed as a left winger.
A skilful player, he also works hard defensively and possesses impressive close control.
With Arsenal having many attacking prospects at their disposal in the U18 setup, Quesada-Thorn may have to battle for a place in the side but he is still set to receive much game time throughout the course of the season.
Forward Amani Richards, who joined from Chelsea last season, is perhaps the standout player in this intake. The England youth international has already made his debut for Arsenal U23s, becoming the first schoolboy to do so since Reiss Nelson in December 2015.
Arsenal U18s will commence their pre-season preparations on Saturday afternoon with a friendly away to Chelmsford City.
Thank you Jeorge!
Interesting about this Amani Richards. Sounds very promising to feature at u23 level as a schoolboy!
Any more info you can give us about him, Jeorge?