Top 5 Arsenal academy stars to follow Maitland-Niles into the first team
Arsenal’s youth academy has always been brimming with top class youngsters with first team stars Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs being testaments to this. It was Song and Fabregas before them, as Arsenal have always maintained a good record of blooding youngsters. Francis Coquelin (although via the backdoor) and Hector Bellerin are the latest successful youth products to break into the first team with several other players still waiting in the wings.
While the likes of Walcott, Ramsey, and Chamberlain joined the club young, they did not come up through the club’s youth setup, which means the young Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the latest youngster to cross that bridge. If you consider that Bellerin has been involved in the first team since last year, and Coquelin made several appearances years ago before his loan, the latest youth player to receive a Premier League call up is young Niles. He is the only member of the current youth setup that has appeared in a Premier League match, and the 17 year will surely be clamoring for more. Who else will join him? Arsenal is spoiled for choice in terms of talented youngsters, and here are the top five likely to follow Niles into the first team.
Considering that the likes of Akpom, Zelalem and Gnabry have already involved in the first team, the following list is chosen mostly from current players listed in the academy.
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A winger with exceptional pace and technical ability, Willock is tipped for a bright future at Arsenal. He played in the club’s preseason match against Boreham Wood, impressing Wenger. “Technically and tactically he integrated very well,” Wenger said about Willock. “Of course it’s natural that he lacks a bit of power at that age but when he gets that he will be a very interesting player.” Willock is slight in his physique and lacks strength, which is believed to be the only thing holding him back as the moment.
O’Connor has already received a first team call up, albeit not in the league, as he came on as a sub for the last 13 minutes of Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Galatasaray in the group stages of the Champions League. The would be his last call as his short cameo showed he still has much to learn. O’Connor is a fullback, and possesses good physical attributes but lacks positioning and tactical maturity. Those will come with age and he could be knocking at the doors again in a few years.
A powerful an intelligent centre back, Ajayi is highly regarded at Arsenal. He captained the U-21s last season and is now a main cog in the reserve side’s back line. He was named to the bench for the first team’s win over Newcastle in December, in the same match that Maitland-Niles made his debut, and he is said to be knocking at the first team’s door.
Hayden is the one player on the list who is listed in the first team. Such is his stock at Arsenal. He still has yet to feature in the league though, and if it weren’t for his fairly recent long term injury (which has now recovered from), many suspect he would have played already. Hayden is a massively talented centre back who regularly trains with the first team. He is clever in his reading of the game, and possesses good intercepting and tackling ability.
Dan Crowley is currently being branded as the best thing to come from the youth academy since Cesc Fabregas( although the same was once said about Wilshere and Gnabry). Brilliant footballer this boy is. Technically gifted, and supremely clever, his style of play very much resembles that of Fabregas or Jack Wilshere. He joined from Aston Villa last season and after ripping up the U-18 division he was quickly called into the U-21s. He has been making quite a buss in the youth setup, scoring a number of cracking goals. Have a look at his free kick from earlier this year down below. The video was shot by a fan, and you can hear what he thinks of the boy as well.
