Re: Arsenal U23s & U18s Thread

[Jay29]

We've entered an u21 side into the Checkatrade Trophy this season.

This means our kids will get at least three games against Football League opposition.

We've been drawn in a group with Cheltenham, Coventry and Forest Green.

[Jay29]

Emile Smith-Rowe has signed a new long-term contract.

He signed on professional terms just last year and has already been rewarded with a new deal. Shows just how highly the club rate him. I've a feeling he'll be very involved with the first team in the next couple of years.

[urbaNRoots]

Him and Maitland-Niles seem like they will be immediate back ups for Ramsey and Torreira respectively, with Guendouzi backing up XHAKA.

[Jay29]

Freddie Ljungberg's u23s lost their first game of the season earlier today... 6-5 against Man City

Smith-Rowe scored twice. Bielik, Amaechi and Mavididi scored the rest. Nketiah missed a penalty.

[urbaNRoots]

Nketiah really needs to work on those penalties, missed one in pre-season as well.

On the other hand the U18 won their first game 4-2 against Aston Villa's U18. Folarin Balogun with two goals, Yunus Musah and Taylor-Hart with the rest.

[Hapless_Hans]

He's not an Arsenal player anymore after joining Wolfsburg for a million and a half € last summer, but maybe this will give some context on why he didn't make it at Arsenal...

VfL Wolfsburg have fired ex-Arsenal youngster Kaylen Hinds (20) today. Hinds has been simply absent from Wolfsburg for more than 5 weeks now

DoF Schmadtke: "He did not fulfill his contractual obligations even in the face of repeated requests and summons. We do not tolerate such behaviour."
His  contract would have run until 2020 but was canceled by Wolfsburg.
Hinds excuse in mid August had been that he couldn't return to Germany from England for the beginning of training due to having "lost his passport". Schmadtke now pointed out that it wouldn't take 4 weeks to get a provisional passport or similar document.
Before being fired today, Hinds had been warned and fined.

[urbaNRoots]

Imagine getting the opportunity to play professional football at the highest level and doing this kind of stuff...

[Hapless_Hans]

It's Wolfsburg though, the club and the town, we're talking about so I can't really judge him

[Jay29]

Our u23s just smashed Coventry 3-0 in their opening Checkatrade Trophy group game. Goals from Smith-Rowe, Nketiah and Willock.

This is a senior competition btw. Coventry might have changed their team a lot but this was kids against full-time pros. It's a really impressive result.

[Jay29]

Henry has become Monaco manager, and it seems he's taking our U18s head coach Kwame Ampadu with him.

I'm curious to see who takes the U18s role. We've got a good crop of kids at this level who did really well last season.

[RealGunner]

Hopefully another Arsenal man.

I am not sure why Pires never had a go at any management. He is basically living at the Arsenal training ground.

But perhaps someone like Rosicky can come back?

[Sina]

It's happened again  #FAYouthCup pic.twitter.com/ITnm5WzQKm

— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) January 17, 2019

how good is Amaechi?

[Jay29]

Reiss Nelson was left out of the recent Hoffenheim squad for disciplinary reasons.

His playing time has dried up since his quick start. He probably would have gotten more playing time staying with us.

[urbaNRoots]

It doesn't bode well for hi that he has fallen out with a guy who loves to play youngsters.

[Sina]

Mexican wonder kid Marcelo Flores, signs for Arsenal from Ipswich Town. pic.twitter.com/bu2WRzhi7h

— Z (@ZR_7G1) March 15, 2019

Marcelo Flores has officially joined his sisters at Arsenal.

¡Gunners mexicanos! El Arsenal fichó a tres hermanos y prefieren al Tri sobre Inglaterra https://t.co/UTIvkgyM83

— Mex Nex Gen (@MexNexGen) March 15, 2019

[Jay29]

Did some research on the kid:

Apparently, his dad is Mexican and his mum is Canadian. His dad was coaching the Cayman Islands women's team when Ipswich just happened to put on some training camp, and there's where they spotted Marcelo Flores.

Flores was talented enough to get offers from all the big teams (including Arsenal), but he turned them down to join Ipswich, presumably because his prospects of first team football were greater.

So he's eligible for Canada and Mexico, and will be eligible for England in a couple years' time as well (which will help when Brexit screws up the work permit system even more). And one of his sisters plays for the women's development team. Not sure about the other one.

[Jay29]

I've always liked Mertesacker's mentality. In all his interviews, he talks about taking the glamour out of football and preparing kids and parents for the harsher realities.

I think the most interesting takeaway from this one is what he said about not being shy to let players go if the player benefits from it. It's foreshadowing the fact that not all these bright players we've got coming through at the moment are going to end up in the first team and we'll have tough choices to make.

[Jay29]

Saka's two goals for the England u19s. Looking like prime Bale out there:

pic.twitter.com/B4MjOWAr1t

— aymen (@aymenvids) March 22, 2019

[RealGunner]

That's some good football too by those players.

[Jay29]

England's youth teams are unrecognisable from 10 years ago. Gotta give the FA credit for changing things for the better.

[Sina]

Sam Greenwood enjoying excellent first season at Arsenal

Some youngsters can find it difficult to adapt when joining a new club.

Joel Lopez, for instance, has taken some time to perform at his best since joining Arsenal from Barcelona.

Sam Greenwood, however, hit the ground running following his switch from Sunderland last summer and he hasn’t looked back since.

The forward arrived at Arsenal having already amassed a considerable amount of experience of U18 football while he was a schoolboy.

Greenwood has proceeded to score eight goals in 16 appearances for the U18s so far this season, while he has also provided three assists.

In addition, the 17-year-old, who is expected to sign professional terms before the start of next season, has also demonstrated his versatility, impressing whether deployed as a centre forward, a playmaker or on either wing.

It may not be the most popular comparison with Arsenal supporters, but there are some similarities between Greenwood and Robin van Persie in terms of playing style, with the youngster possessing excellent technique.

Owing to the fact that he has several players ahead of him in the pecking order, Greenwood has yet to make the breakthrough into Arsenal’s U23 side, but that will surely come in due course as he continues to develop.

Greenwood has also frequently impressed for England at youth level and Arsenal’s decision to sign him certainly seems to have been an inspired one as he has vast potential.

It is, of course, far too early to tell whether Greenwood will eventually be able to make an impact in the Arsenal first-team but his first season at the club could hardly have gone much better.

Greenwood will hope to conclude the campaign by helping Arsenal U18s to win the title, which would set him up nicely for next season, when he will be aiming to reach even greater heights.

https://arseblog.news/2019/03/sam-greenwood-enjoying-excellent-first-season-at-arsenal/

[Jay29]

The u18s have won the Premier Division South. They'll play a final against the Northern winners to determine the overall Champions.

If they win that they'll play in the UEFA Youth League next season regardless of what the first team does.

Seems like Miguel Azeez, Sam Greenwood and Flo Balogun are the pick of this group.

Meanwhile, Ljungberg's u23s have finished 2nd in the u23 Premier League. Been an excellent season for them, especially for Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka, Xavier Amaechi and Tyreece John-Jules. Hopefully some of them will feature in our pre-season tour of the US.

[RealGunner]

I have absolutely no idea why we couldn't have just given Saka those minutes Denis Suarez got.

[Twoism]

Not like Suarez play any meaningful amount, also hindsight and all that, we all really thought he would play much bigger role, a total waste of precious winter transfer.

Also look at 1st page of this thread, Zelalem, Crowley, Toral so many other names wtf are they now. The two names kinda make it are Niles, Bellerin ironically playing the same position.

[Jay29]

Zelalem has gone back to the US, I think. That ACL injury basically killed his already meagre chances of making it.

Crowley is doing okay at Willem II in the Netherlands. Will probably end up in the Championship or something one day.

Toral is at Hull. He's been a good Championship-level player when fit.

I tend to think that getting two players into the first team out of any generation is a success, so the fact we got Bellerin, Maitland-Niles and Iwobi from the same group isn't bad at all.

[RealGunner]

I wonder what Iwobi's current market value is?

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