Arsenal Make Impeccable Investment In Donyell Malen

Arsenal’s past week has reinforced their prerogative of shoring up the future. Nothing does that more than the first professional contract of young Donyell Malen.

Given the lack of senior signings Arsenal made in January, the fans have to find excitement elsewhere. For starters, Arsenal have inked the Nigerian wonder duo of Kelechi Nwakali and Samuel Chukwueze to deals. This bodes well because both are fresh off of a U17 World Cup.

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Add to that the first professional contracts of such prospects as Jordi Osei-Tutu, Tolaji Bola, Yassin Fortune, Marcus McGuane and Joshua Dasilva. Fortune and McGuane came with the most press. While Fortune was the lesser half of the Jeff Reine-Adelaide deal, the fact that he is a striker should put a smile on some faces.

Similarly, McGuane plays the all important defensive midfield, although he can play other roles as well. His first professional contract is also reason to be excited.

However, when looking for excitement, there is no need to look further than the most recently signed professional contract. This one was by Dutch wonderkid Donyell Malen. Upon turning 17, Arsenal made it quite clear what they thought of the youngster, as his deal will run until he is 19 in 2018.

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The news came from Jeorge Bird’s youth blog and it is news that should have us all counting down the months until Malen can make a senior team impact.

To say that Malen has erupted onto the Arsenal scene would be an understatement. The young Dutchman came to Arsenal from Ajax last summer, tossing his name into the 2015 crop of wonderkids that included Ismael Bennacer, Yassin Fortune, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Vlad Dragomir and Krystian Bielik, who arrived in January.

Clearly Malen had some formidable classmates. Bielik and Reine-Adelaide have already made first team appearances. They have also begun to show through their U21 production what all the hype is about.

And yet, Malen is still making just as much noise as Bielik and Reine-Adelaide.

For starters, Malen broke through into the U21’s when he was just 16 years old, overtaking Yassin Fortune and Stephy Mavidid to become the undisputed starting striker of the Arsenal U21 side. Make no mistake about it, that is no easy feat. And while getting there is one thing, remaining there is something completely different.

Malen has since tallied 742 minutes across seven appearances in the U21 Premier League and five appearances in the U21 UEFA League. In that time, he has netted an impressive three times and assisted on two. However, he has turned on the jets lately, scoring all three of those goals and one of his assists in the past six matches.

Also consider that Malen, while spending most of his time at center forward, has been moved wide right occasionally as well. Yet that has not dulled his production.

I cannot say enough about how important Malen is to Arsenal’s future. As it stands, Olivier Giroud sits at 29 years of age. He is the sole, true out-and-out striker on this Arsenal team. Behind him there is Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck, both of whom Wenger sees as striking options. Yet neither has proven to be capable of scoring.

Granted, both can develop that ability, but as of right now, they do not have it.

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Behind them is Chuba Akpom. Akpom’s recent hat trick for Hull City was a fantastic sign and will ideally be the start of something great, but he is nearing the point where he needs to prove something. If he cannot, then Arsenal will have to look further down in the system or look externally.

There is always Yaya Sanogo, but let’s not talk about him.

The next in line is young Donyell Malen. He may find, when his first professional contract is nearing it’s end at 19 years of age, that Arsenal need another striker. Giroud will then be 31 and if Welbeck and Walcott collapse and Akpom cannot gain any traction, Malen is next. Barring some unforeseen burst from Mavididi or Fortune.

Luckily, it looks like Malen has what it takes to rise to the occasion. He is already playing well above his age and he has the work ethic of someone who truly loves the game. He will not stop improving until he has reached his ceiling and there does not seem to be much of a ceiling in sight.

Not only that, but at 17 years old, he has already shown a fervent passion for the club. Malen made note of the fact that he was thrilled to be playing at the same club that Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp played.

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Everything points to Malen being a mainstay at this club for years. Congratulations on your first professional contract, Donyell Malen!