Five Arsenal young guns who should have gone onto better things

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas

Thomas will always be a youth team legend for the goal above and for his goal tally over ten years. Sensational skill and trickery on the ball, the man who was once affectionately known as “Jet” (for his initials) was primed for a massive career at Arsenal and football in general. He was a handful for his size and strength, but also possessed good technical ability. He scored goals for fun in the youth setup, leading the team to league and cup glory. He never really looked like breaking into the first team though and made just one first team appearance. He was sent on loan three seasons in a row to Blackpool, Doncaster, and Cardiff from 2009 to 2011 bagging decent goal tallies at each, but again found himself frozen out back at Arsenal. He eventually moved on to Ipswich where he scored just 8 goals in 71 league appearances before joining Bristol in 2013. He has now agree to join QPR for next season.