Arsenal has a strong tradition of grooming young players, which is why their academy continues to thrive.
Bukayo Saka and Reiss Nelson are prime examples of talents who have come through the ranks to become important first-team players.
The Gunners continue to develop stars, with Ethan Nwaneri tipped to be the next Hale End Academy graduate to make a significant impact.
However, just a few days ago, Arsenal lost arguably the best teenage striker in England,
Chido Obi-Martin, who claimed he did not see a pathway to the first team at the Emirates.
Mikel Arteta traveled for pre-season with several youngsters who hoped to play in the matches. However, he predominantly used strong, established players for their pre-season games, which might have contributed to Obi-Martin’s decision to leave.
After the game against Liverpool, the Arsenal gaffer was asked about the lack of chances for the youngsters and he said, as quoted by The Sun:
“I’m really pleased with all of them. Unfortunately, I wanted to give opportunities to all of them, but we didn’t have enough time to do so,
especially the ones that played, I think they performed & responded incredibly well.
“So that’s something that we take from the tour as well, that we have a lot of talent there
that we want to use & they show that they are very much pushing to earn the right to play with us.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
We have several fine youngsters who have the talent to start playing for our senior team.
However, because we are looking to win a major trophy soon, we will not give as much chance to youngsters as we should.