Arsenal have confirmed that youngster Jordan McEneff has joined Shelbourne FC as they gear up for the start of the new League of Ireland season.
Born in Derry, the midfielder, 21, joined the Gunners academy in 2017 and has steadily progressed through the ranks to become a regular at under-18 and under-23 level.
Jordan moves to Dublin to gain senior experience under the mentorship of coach Damien Duff (yep, that Damien Duff), who is very excited by his signing.
Welcome to The Reds, @jordanmceneff01 🤝
Shelbourne is delighted to confirm the loan signing of midfielder Jordan McEneff from @Arsenal
📲 https://t.co/sh5riQdYnG#DublinsFinest | #Since1895 pic.twitter.com/xp8MKSsA4S
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) February 7, 2022
“Jordan is a brilliant, exciting signing and also the last player that will arrive in this window,” the ex-Chelsea winger told the Shelbourne website.
“It is a brand new squad that is hungry and desperate to succeed and the players will be brilliant for Jordan.
“He has amazing quality but has had a difficult time with injuries. We aim to get him fit, keep him fit and get him back to his very best.”
Jordan, who has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-17 level, is looking forward to the challenge.
“When Damien rang me it was very exciting and he understands how it is in England for me,” he said.
“The squad seems very exciting and the set up is very attractive. I know how good the league is and with the Club promoted recently it is going in the right direction.
“Most teams in the league will be really competitive and I’m looking forward to playing first team football with excellent coaching staff around the Club.”
Best of luck to Jordan, we hope it works out well.
All the best, Jordan
Let’s hope he can crack into the first team.
Hehe. I’m brilliant.
He ain’t good Eneff
We seem to have a lot of very talented young players coming through the academy and although most of them won’t make the first team squad they all seem to be decent, grounded young men with good careers ahead of them. Per and his team are doing an excellent job and here’s wishing all the best to Jordan in the next step in his progress.
All the best, Jordan! Hope that this experience works out well and look forward to a bright future (ideally at Arsenal, but if not, somewhere he can thrive). I also want to echo the comment on Per Mertesacker. I think he is doing an excellent job in casting our net out wide and funnelling talent through our academy system (supported by short loan spells which may help accelerate development). ESR’s trajectory has been a great example of this. Of course for every one player that makes it to the senior Arsenal squad, many more won’t, but the exposure is also… Read more »