Morning all.
Arsenal FC have released a list of nine young players who have signed first-year scholarships. Perhaps the key player is Emerson Nwaneri who we all know is the younger brother of Ethan. Not only has he signed his scholarship but a professional contract too which automatically kicks in next August when he turns 17 years old. As others have suggested here, this deal is a good indication that brother Ethan is going nowhere this summer and if right, I’m really pleased. It’s all very well looking outside the club for talent and ready made superstars but I’d hate us to be a club who overlook our own in the process.
When Arsene Wenger used to suggest signing player x, y or z would block the career of younger players, I kind of agreed with him. The trouble back then though was our academy wasn’t producing genuine talent as it is today. Or at least that’s how it appeared to me. There were exceptions of course like Jack Wilshere but I don’t recall for example, players like Myles Lewis-Skelly, Max Dowman, Marli Salmon and Ethan Nwaneri coming through through the academy and certainly not within a few years of each other.
Back to Emerson Nwaneri who is an England Under-15 international, the midfielder who not only spent the second half of last season with Arsenal’s Under-18s but made his debut for the Under-21s and the Under-19s in the UEFA Youth League too so he’s playing above his age group already which is a good sign.
Arsenal’s other first-year scholars for the 2026-27 season include: Hakeem Abubakar (centre-back/left-back), Elyon Mbala (left-back), Daniel McCarron (centre-back), Jayden Oba (forward), Theo Odaji-Ukueko (midfielder), Angelinou Pedro (centre-back), Charlie Purdy (midfielder) and Joshua Sesay (winger).
Of course there’s a long way to go for these youngsters but before they know it, they will be wondering and desperately hoping that like Emerson Nwaneri, they too will be given a professional contract with the club. Much of that decision will be down to them. Work hard and stay grounded. A number of younger players have travelled to Spain with the senior players and thanks to Jeorge Bird, here is the list of all who could be in contention for Saturday’s game:
Theo Julienne, Ceadach O’Neill, Khari Ranson, Brayden Clarke, Demiane Agustien, Ismeal Kabia, Andre Harriman-Annous, Marli Salmon, Josh Ogunnaike and Louie Copley.
First-team players who have now returned to pre-season are: Riccardo Calafiori, Christos Tzolis, Kai Havertz, Piero Hincapie, Viktor Gyokeres, Christian Norgaard, Gabriel Jesus, Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jurrien Timber, Ben White, Fabio Vieira, Tommy Setford, Reiss Nelson, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman. I’m guessing both Kepa and Illan Meslier are in Spain although I didn’t spot the latter in the training photos on Arsenal.com.
I’d imagine, or at least I hope, by the time the transfer window closes, at least three players in the above list have moved on and at least two new names will have replaced them. John Stones wont be one of them as he’s apparently agreed a move to Inter Milan. As for Bruno Guimarães, Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jnr, so much has been written about them but none of it is new and I doubt much of it is real either.. Mind you, I hope Arsenal do sign Bruno.
Catch up in the comments.
You don’t necessarily have to have Havertz up top, Potter, I was highlighting what the team could have looked like if we hadn’t have walked away from those players.
People can insert their own choice for the striker role.
It’s almost as if I’m courting controversy pointing these things out, because the consensus here is that everyone is quite content with our transfer team.
No sooner said than done Cicero.
There is a new post up now.
Morning Cicero, all.
I’ll have a look re the comments.
Howe has left Newcastle.
Blimey football related news must be very rare if all we have to talk about is the weather a century ago..😉
Rico, we have a like button on the comments page, could we also have a dislike one too?
Interesting Kev. He was a Serb, wasn’t he?
“There’s all this heat out in the street telling us to move along. It’s going to be a long hot summer from now on”.
Perhaps there’s going to be a Tom(my) Robinson come along every fifty years, too…
July 1926: Contemporary newspapers like the Daily Mirror documented a notable heatwave hitting the country around mid-July.September 1926: A remarkable late warm spell occurred, with temperatures reaching 27°C on September 10.Extreme Late Heat: North London (Camden) recorded a high of 32.2°C (90°F) on September 19, 1926. This stood as the latest date in the 20th century when 30°C/90°F was reached in the UK.
Just for you Kev :- The weather in the UK in 1926 was highly changeable and unsettled, characterised by extreme fluctuations including severe winter cold snaps, a major mid-spring disruption, heavy summer thunderstorms, and an unseasonal autumn heatwave
Might be worth more investigation.
I was having a chat with my mate earlier today, he goes on Le Grove regularly and lets me know the vibe there and what’s being said. Then we got to chatting about droughts, his country suffers from a lot of forest fires and I was telling him about 1976 and the big drought we had in the UK and how strange it was that it’s happening again almost exactly 50 years later…
I reckon it’s the Milankovitch cycles…
I wonder if we had a drought in 1926…?
magine this as Arsenal’s starting XI –
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapie
Vitinho Rice
Saka Bellingham Kvaratskhelia
Havertz
How good does that team look
Short of goals with Havertz up top.
The same question could be asked about a top notch striker or defender Devil. But yes, keepers have been in short supply.
Good evening beautiful people
The ideal dream (at least for me…once I spoke about it with Pa) is for Arsenal to field an entire 1st 11, even if its just a cup game, made up of academy players. Pa and I agreed that it would be totally impossible, but then back in the 1990’s we were talking about the possibility of going the season unbeaten, to which Pa told me that is literally impossible. May 2004 I looked at him and told him, is that possible now???
Back to reality. Yep I agree that such games as the one against Girona or any other pre season game can see a youngster push forward. The most important thing though, is, would Arteta trust them? Granted they will not get immediate regular time and I quite enjoyed and admired how Dowman was handled.
One thing which I would like to point out. When was the last time Arsenal fielded an academy keeper who cemented his place and became a regular? Sczescney joined Arsenal at 16 and became a regular. Before him we have to back to Jack Kelsey who came through Arsenal’s youth system and was the club’s regular goalkeeper throughout the 1950s. There is also bob Wilson who joined Arsenal as a young adult and developed at the club but he was never in the academy.
The club should invest more in youth goalkeeper coaches.
From Mikel:
Two new signings have also joined the group this pre-season – goalkeeper Illan Meslier and forward Christos Tzolis – with more expected to sign before the end of the transfer window.
“A lot is happening,” the boss confirmed. “We all know about the context of this transfer window. From ownership to the board, the sporting director and myself, we know that we want to take this club to a different level. That is going to require a better squad, better individuals. We have identified where we have opportunities to grow and to improve and to evolve our game and what is going to be needed to achieve that. Hopefully very soon we can start to put things in a very concrete way.”
https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-16014323/fifa-argentina-investigation-falklands-assault.html
Good. Throw the book at them.
Imagine this as Arsenal’s starting XI –
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapie
Vitinho Rice
Saka Bellingham Kvaratskhelia
Havertz
How good does that team look!
From the BBC.
Jurrien Timber has travelled back to London from Arsenal‘s training camp in Spain in a move related to the groin injury that caused him to miss the end of last season.
The Netherlands international missed two months towards the end of last season because of an ankle injury, but returned in time for the Champions League final loss to Paris St-Germain.
However, a groin issue then caused him to miss the World Cup.
It is now understood that the right-back has returned to London from the Gunners’ training camp in Spain but sources insist the visit is part of his rehabilitation schedule and not because of a setback in his recovery.
Timber is expected to return to Spain to rejoin the squad.
Let’s be honest, Rlco, with those three players, we wouldn’t just be winning, we would be strutting.
We’d be like the most beautiful cat-walk model in the world.
And we casually walked away and rejected the opportunity to create it.
We won’t create it because our decision makers aren’t brave enough.
When you deliberately miss out on players like Bellingham, Kvaratskhelia and Vitinho, it suggests that those making these critical decisions aren’t as savvy or as clued up as they should be, and based on their recent past, going forward, I have no confidence in their ability to make the right choices ffor Arsenal.
Release the shackles, let us breathe and play ball.
What’s your point though Dennis? Not sure why you feel the need to point out the bleeding obvious. Vieira was an unsuccessful transfer, only a blind person would suggest otherwise.
It’s not opinion, Rico, it’s fact.
Essentially, one of our staff went to Portugal to watch Vieira and Vitinho.
Vitinho would have cost £45m (now has a market value of £140m).
Vieira was £10m less at £35m, and now Arsenal are struggling to sell him for £15m.
That’s what super caution does to you.
Dennis, please do not assume you know what I’m thinking because you haven’t a clue! I certainly don’t need to read some guy who I don’t know opinion of Vieira, I have my own thank you.
Tom is someone who posts in the comments section, which is all I asked you to read, Rico.
You seem to want to ignore these truths, sometimes our super cautious approach can lead to us making extremely poor expensive buys, and we are terrible at selling/moving players on.
I do Dennis, not very often though. No idea who Tom is though.
I’m sure you have a little dip into Le Grove on occasion, Rico.
Check out what Tom says about the difference between Fabio Vieira and Vitinho, and tell me it’s not a little bit shocking.
That long Kev? 😜
Me too re a defender. Keeping players fit would be a huge bonus.
Rico, the Vinicius story was exciting, for about 10 minutes, then the reality of the financial package needed kicked in.
Vinicius would only consider Arsenal for a financial package best described as irresponsible given the knock-on effects to squad morale.
Yes I agree, centre-back, although under-reported by those idiots in the media, is the priority because 6 months without William and our season is probably in jeopardy.
I believe that Tzolis is a left side player so is more likely a 60/30 or 30/60 player with Martinelli . Nwaneri is more likely to cover the outside and inside right positions until he takes the position for himself which I think he will .
I am currently looking more at the defence because Saliba is going to leave a big hole .
Morning Devil, I reckon the Nelson story could be mischief making..
Same here Kev. Even with the Vinicius story, he only said Arsenal were exploring a deal then all of a sudden, it’s blown up.
Hi Dev, this weekend’s game vs Girona is the perfect opportunity for maybe another one or two further youngsters to push their credentials for inclusion into the managers 1st team plans.
I’d like to see Augustien given a run-out alongside more senior team mates and Ife Ibrahim who has grown exponentially into a very imposing midfielder, up front O’Neill has some potential and if the club cannot bring in the players it wants for whatever reason, mainly unrealistic financial demands, then internal solutions could be the way to go.
I kinda like this hardball attitude from the club on transfers, we’ve been a soft touch for far too long.
I see that Crystal Palace are linked with signing Tomiyasu who has been training with them as a free agent. He looked pretty good at the World Cup.
I cannot deny something I have no factual information about Dennis.
Good morning Lady and Gentlemen of the House
Good to get an update on the young ones. How many of them will break through??? We will have to wait and see.
Reiss Nelson is staying at the EMS. He has signed a contract till 2030 I have read (FB). So either we are getting loan money every year instead of losing him for free or else he is going to be used to help Tzolis bed in and cover for Saka and Madueke as well up till December. Where it leaves Nwaneri I don’t know. Hopefully the latter will be played more regularly now.
Martinelli has got married. Arteta will be pleased since he may get to score more regularly now.
Morning Gunners…
It’s amazing the rumours that are swimming around X, Facebook and the dozens of other platforms that like to suggest that they have some kind of inside information, the majority of the legacy (almost extinct) press build their whole schtick around rumours, half-rumours and downright lies, that’s why nobody really takes them seriously anymore.
I listen to Ornstein because he cross references everything and then does it again, so if David says it, then it is so, all the rest is noise from ITK’s.
We all repeat rumours on here, mostly those rumours we like and wish that they come to pass but in general nobody spouts bullshit and that’s how I like it.
So are you denying Arsenal were ever close to signing Kvarastkhelia, Rico?
I’m sure the information will be available somewhere on the internet, Rico.
Not factual then Dennis.
Just why I don’t believe most of what’s written in the media because I believe Arsenal are a club who tend to keep their cards close to their chest.
Semantics, Rico, what I know is Stuivenberg watched him have an indifferent game and he is the reason Arsenal didn’t sign Kvaratskhelia, just prior to him exploding at PSG.
Given our technical limitations, linked to the super cautious approach, perhaps Enrique and PSG best served his abilities.
How do you know he was “briefed to watch’ Dennis?
You’re right, Rico, Albert Stuivenberg is Arteta’s assistant, never a scout.
But he was briefed to watch Kvaratskhelia as a potential signing, and after one game, Albert said he wasn’t good enough for Arsenal.
He clearly is as knowledgeable as the Daily Mail journo who rubbished Bellingham.
You can’t beat the eye test, a sample of five games against different levels of opposition will tell you how good a player is, what they can and can’t do, work ethic etc, you don’t need FA coaching badges for that.
Is that rumoured Potter?
Tomiyasu is fit, training with Palace and without a club. Just saying.
Morning guys.
Bayern want Havertz ? swap for Jamal Musiala ??
Well said..
We already have an excellent squad which needs tweaking, not overhauling. Im not going to get grumpy over the timing of signings, who we have through the door by the end of the transfer window is what matters imo.
Cautious maybe , but buying players is not as easy as going to Tesco for a pound of mince, Rumours are abound that Bruno is over the line, if so , the waiting game has worked just as it did for Gyokeres. . Tzolis came reasonably quickly after Trossard left but of course he is not a multibillion player so his signing will not satisfy those that want a shiny new toy every Christmas.
Today it appears that Vini jnr’s team have used Arsenal to force Real into a corner ,which doesn’t come as a surprise to most of us although to many it will be held against the club because they didn’t manage to get his X on the dotted line.
The history of football is full of players missed by various managers and is also full of signings that did not work out. it’s the way it is.
None of us know what is going on behind the scenes and far too much credence is given to so called ITK people who make their money by deluding people into thinking that their pronouncements have a basis .
Throughout my time I have never really known what the club is up to. We rarely say in advance , in fact when Bergkamp joined I did not believe it until I saw that famous picture with Rioch and the picture of Petit and Overmars as well 2 years later..
Albert Stuivenberg has never been an Arsenal scout as far as I know. He left the Wales setup to work alongside Mikel Arteta.
We’re long overdue another one Stuart. It’ll come, I’m sure of it.
Or a similar fee they paid for Kane Kev, he was no spring chicken when they signed him..
Albert Stuivenberg was the man who advised us not to sign Kvaratskhelia.
And he still has a senior role at Arsenal, which explains a lot about the slow progression, and the nature of how the PL title was won.
If I was asked to describe Mikel Arteta’s time so far at Arsenal in three words, it would be – super super cautious.
The fine margins that are a by-product of this caution uses up far too much mental energy and isn’t good for the heart.
From a position of strength, Arsenal have been very indecisive this summer and it is a very underwhelming TW so far. Mikel Arteta’s (new) contract remains unsigned as yet, too.
Stu, how does it go, what happens in the US this week comes to the UK next week.
Bayern want Kai Havertz eh?
Well if PSG can ask £145m for Barcola then Arsenal could quote Munchen somewhere in the region of £120m and see what transpires?
Thanks for the post, Rico.
I was going to Highbury through the ’80’s and remember supporters being turfed out for carrying those ninja throwing stars. I never saw those oranges, tho. They sound well dodgy. My scariest experience on the road was a time at Stamford Bridge when the Chelsea skinheads lined up at the exit. Only time I ever hid my scarf.
I think the class of ’83 was the best set of players to come through the youth system: Rocastle, Adams, Merson, Keown, Hayes, Quinn, Thomas and (I think) Paul Davis too. They became the backbone of our success in the decade and most of them became full internationals.
Our “colony” doesn’t follow the American version of the word, Kev. We speak the Queens English, A Gooner is a dyed in the wool Gunner.
I don’t think Alvarez is right for us as I think he’d struggle against a low block. Just as the team does in general.
Havertz might fancy a return to Germany..
Bayern said to want Havertz , would that open the door to Alvarez in Arteta’s thinking . I am not adverse to Havertz going but not sure that the Argentinian is the replacement solution. Having said that I am not sure about who exactly is.
Arsenal could have resolved their problem left side as long ago as 2022.
Arsenal were in pole position to sign now PSG winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, just before he burst onto the world stage. He was spoken of very highly and everyone who knew him knew he was going to become a special player. The Arsenal scout (Albert ?), watched him in a game where he had no real impact, and advised Arsenal against signing him.
Our club have a very obvious blind-spot when it comes to spotting difference makers early in their careers.
On those two particular players, it’s not so much a lack of intelligence, moreso a lack of bravery, an unwillingness to ‘go for it’. Any club can miss out on players, but these two are world-class and there for the club to sign.
At best it is incredibly careless to let world class players slip through your grasp, at worst it is extremely shocking scouting and a total lack of football intelligence. Especially as four and a half years on and we still haven’t solved the left wing issue.
There’s obviously mixed reports then Dennis. I wasn’t privy to the information so can only go on what’s written.
I can spot sarcasm by the way..
Arsenal delayed making the offer, Rico, after watching him in three games. He and his parents were waiting to hear from Arsenal, but no contact was forthcoming.
Arsenal only made contact after Bellingham had signed the contract with Birmingham, which he only signed because Arsenal had waited too long.
That’s a stratospheric miss from everyone at our club.
I’m sure folk can speak for themselves, Rico, without you having to be super-sensitive and wrap everything in cotton wool.
There was no name-calling or offensive language, I asked for an opinion on Bellingham from someone who wasn’t over-impressed with him.
Just like the Daily Mail (doyen and protector of the moral compass!) journo, who last year wrote that Bellingham should be left at home (for the ’26 WC).
People are allowed opinions, even if they’re wrong.
Cancel culture in overdrive.
Story goes Dennis, Arsenal offered £500k for Bellingham but he and his family decided it was better for him to stay put. Chelsea tried to sign him the year he left Birmingham but he rejected them for Dortmund.
I’m glad Kev.
Yeah, Vinicius wants the big, new, Castilian contract, money talks.
Arsenal could have had Jude Bellingham from Birmingham’s academy for £500k, but dithered and waited too long.
Arsenal watched him play three games, but instead of moving decisively and immediately, he signed a new contract with Birmingham, and because Arsenal took so long to act, when they made their offer, Bellingham’s parents refused to allow him to move.
Sky Sports, “Vinicius Jnr staying at Real Madrid”
Thank goodness for that…
Girona’s stadium is called the Montillivi and as it is just inland from the sea , I was hoping there might be a cooling sea breeze . The name suggests that it is on a hill but unfortunately the stadium is at the bottom of the hill . So no luck there.
I used to work for a company based in Manchester and had a company car with a Manchester number plate At Maine Road we got the standard look after your car mister , my mate gave him a couple of bob , but when we got back the wipers were gone. As we drove down the road a kid jumped out and tried to sell them back to me for a couple of quid , I told him to “”Go AWAY “. What he didn’t know was that I worked for a wiper Blade manufacturer.I drove to the factory and put new ones on and drove back.
I’ve been to Old Trafford, during the time of Tommy Docherty and the Stratford End was was more impressive than the Spion Kop at that time, anywhere up north was problematic in the 70’s, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Stoke, some of those places were lethal, our coach got bricked driving through Moss Side on the way to City’s old ground, Roker Park, Ayresome Park, St James’ it was another world up there, probably still is on match days.
Got some nice grub if you knew where to look though, found a love cafe in Leeds, had a nice fry up pretty much outside of Anfield and the Salvation Army hall next to Goodison had a fabulous selection of pasties and cakes to go with a good old fashioned northern cuppa. Found a brilliant chippy on the way towards Middlesborough station after we’d beaten them 3-2, the balti pies in Stoke were amazing, all of it a lot cheaper than down here.
I remember seeing that picture of a Man Utd fan being helped out of the crowd by the St John’s Ambulance fellas, with a dart sticking out of his face, just below his eye and to the side of his nose…
Yes, the good old days…
I looked up how the term was first used and it says that it came about from our hooligan squad in the 1970’s named ” The goon squad ”
Well I lived through all of that although I tried to keep clear of it , but I knew about The Herd but never the goon squad .
The Herd was primarily a protection group for supporters known as scarfers identified because their scarves were tied to the wrists,they were often attacked on away trips or local derbies and had major confrontations with Leeds , West Ham.and Millwall which I witnessed whereas other teams from the north Man Utd used more devious methods , I was told never to catch an orange thrown into the crowd because it was quite likely to have a razor blade in it. One of their favourites , whereas the midland clubs favoured sharpened pennies . ‘
The scousers were mainly push and shove to clear people away to dominate the area behind the goals so that they could hold up their scarves and sing their carousel number.
Glasgow Rangers just lobbed whisky bottles , empty of course.
It was an experience but I am glad that it’s pretty much finished now.
Temperature right now in Girona 30c that’s 84f. Great weather for football training….Not!
🤣 Cicero
Hi Geoff, depends who the brothers are I guess. Can’t say I’m bothered about it.
I’m not aware of a problem with posting. Saying that, I only ever use an iPad.
So Americans laugh at our nickname Gooners, in this part of Norfolk a fart is called a trump. Laugh that off Yanks.😉
Morning Rico and all, I have never liked having brothers in the same team as I feel they will often look for each other and not who is the best to pass to or argues between them carried on in matches, not to mention mum and dad nagging the older brother to help his younger brother more.
In America I think the Goons were a somewhat stupid race in the Popeye the sailor man cartoons.Quite how that generated into the habits recently attributed to our ex prime minister, I don’t know
is there a problem posting today ? This my phone but a post on the lap top is not being accepted
Morning Cicero, thank you.
I wouldn’t want to be going anywhere abroad with all the wildfires going on. It’s awful, so must destruction and loss of wildlife.
Morning Gunners…
Thanks to Arseblog I discovered that the term we use so fondly among Arsenal fans, that of Gooner, has a different meaning in the Colonies and as we gather an ever increasing fanbase from the New World its prudent of me to explain.
Gooner is a slang term in the United States describing someone who is addicted to quite naughty and explicit online content and someone who indulges regularly in ranking – and I don’t mean a taxi rank either. Explaining possibly why merchandise with an Arsenal related term Gooner on it is in stark decline and hardly ever seen in the US. I had this confirmed to me by an American friend who did see the funny side when explaining what gooning and Gooner means over there on the frontier.
So there ya go, a term I first heard in the 1980’s borne out of the Scandinavian accented Gunner now seems to be in danger of being connected to those who indulge in naturalist type content whilst solitarily stimulating themselves.
I shall now indulge in a cup of chai, cheers.
Girona is a long way from Madrid about 8 or 9 hours drive I think, however reading through the Spanish press today the Alverez / Gyokeres story appears in Marca but their source is quoted as The Times . So the story is going round and round the press circles. How much is true and how much is speculation , who knows ?
Good morning Rico, it seems a strange time to be travelling to Spain, wild fires burning out of control, record temperatures, poor air quality and wide-spread evacuations taking place. Surely Arteta could have found better conditions in Norway or Finland.
***** Again, thanks