Arsenal: Youth team starting XI – The future is bright

Arsenal have a vast array of young talent at the club. I structured them into a starting XI, just to illustrate how bright the future is for the Gunners.

This season, Arsenal have been able to hone quite a few prospects in their ranks and it might not be too long before they challenge the present first-team starters. Excluding the young first-teamers (youngsters that have played a significant number of games for Arsenal and are considered, at least, occasional starters) under 23 years of age, like Rob Holding, Alex Iwobi, Calum Chambers, Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Arsenal still have a very impressive crop of youngsters.

Find the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here – Assessing Unai Emery’s first term

The future looks bright, so bright you can literally bring out a whole line-up of youth prospects.

Goalkeeper: 

Matt Macey will be my pick for the future role. He’s on loan at Plymouth but I don’t really rate him all that “highly”, which is quite astonishing when you consider his height – Boy, he’s 6ft6. He is though, above Deyan Illiev, who is also in the ranks. With Bernd Leno only 26, though, neither should be required any time soon.

Defence:

Arsenal’s fullback problem does extend to the youth team, to an extent. Left-back, in particular, is a bit iffy, as Cohen Bramall has been nowhere to be found and new boy, La Masia product, Joel Lopez, might need to take a little more time to get to the first team. I will therefore pick Zech Medley and Jordi Osei-Tutu to occupy the fullback roles. Medley just made his debut against Vorskla. He is more comfortable at centre-back but has the capability to play on the flank.

Centrally, I see Julio Pleguezuelo and Krystian Bielik as starters in the centre of defence. I followed the progress of Pleguezuelo a bit during his loan spells in Spain and he’s also a very important player for the u-23 team. Bielik is presently on loan and, although his development has stalled a bit due to injury, I still believe the defensive-midfielder- turned-centre-half has what it takes to be first-team material.

Midfield:

This takes a lot of thought, which is a good thing. In the deeper positions, I will go with Charlie Gilmour and Ben Sheaf. Gilmour also recently made his debut; it was a long time coming. He has been instrumental for the u-23s and he deserves his chance.

As for Sheaf, he is a forgotten man right now after his injury-hit loan spell at Stevenage. He’s another midfielder-turned-centre-back, but I don’t think he is physical enough to play in defence. I see him as a midfielder and he gets the nod beside Gilmour. It’s worth noting that Gedion Zelalem would have been a great choice here but his future seems to be in doubt as his contract expires soon and he is not currently in a strong negotiating position. Great talent but injuries have hampered his progress.

Further forward in the attacking midfield role I will go with Joe Willock, who seems to be ready for the step up but might need to mature. He was brilliant against Vorskla and scored a nice goal. But what was most significant was the position he started in. Willock was played out wide. It reminded me of a certain Chris Willock who left Arsenal for Benfica, in search of game time. Well, the older WIllock hasn’t been so lucky and last time I checked, he was stuck in the B team. Imagine if he stayed, he might be the one playing instead.

Attack:

In attack, there are pretty obvious candidates. Emile Smith Rowe has been an unexpected breakout star. His rise has been tremendous and he has managed to usurp almost every young attacker in Unai Emery’s pecking order. He showed great awareness and instinct to score the opener on Thursday. He occupies the left wing position.

Eddie Nketiah, meanwhile, takes the lone striker role. He is a clinical centre-forward, always hounding for goals and he does get them. He scores for fun at youth level but needs the step up to the senior team sooner or later. Admittedly, he has only scored against Norwich and that seems a long time ago, but then the way in which he brought the team from the cusp of elimination to win that match was amazing. And it is not exactly his fault that he has not be afforded the opportunities to play.

That said, with Danny Welbeck out for a considerable amount of time, Nketiah will get his chances. Although he didn’t score versus Vorskla, he was brilliant and has this similar Alexandre Lacazette-like trait of playing well without necessarily scoring. He is more than just a poacher.

At the right-wing position is the most obvious and exciting player. This player has it all in his locker to become a world beater. He is currently scoring for fun in the Bundesliga on loan at Hoffenheim, averaging a goal every 59 minutes. Admittedly, that goalscoring strike-rate will not continue until the end of the season, but he’s not even a striker, even though he wears number nine. That makes it all the more impressive. He’s been tipped for stardom and is showing signs of unstoppable potential. He is a Neymar-esque dribbler, can score goals and is very pacy, direct threat. This player is the one and only Reiss Nelson.

The Hale End product is very close to being a first-team regular and will feature more frequently next season. There is no reason to rush him back in January so as not to interrupt his progress. Come the beginning of next season, he could well establish himself seamlessly as a first-teamer.

Nelson leads the bunch, but this is an exciting cast of young talent. The future at Arsenal is bright indeed.