Arsenal: 5 Ainsley Maitland-Niles midfield replacements

5. Charlie Patino

What a week for Charlie Patino.

Making his senior debut in the 5-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Sunderland, Patino marked a special day in his life with a stoppage time goal to top it all off. The magic of the cup.

If it couldn’t get any better than that, he was able to soak up a winning Premier League atmosphere as he was included on the bench for the win at Carrow Road. Even if Covid absences opened up a space in the squad for him, to be in and around that group on an away day is the taste of first team football he’ll be chomping at the bit for and one he’s worked hard to achieve.

However, it’s too soon for him to be involved in high stakes top-flight football.

Patino’s time will come and while there is clear faith in him from his manager, he is still only 18 years old and his development requires monitoring. If you’re good enough you’re old enough, and Patino is certainly knocking on that door, yet it’s a lot to ask of someone his age at a crucial stage of the campaign.

Just need to sew up top four with games to spare and he can get all the minutes he deserves.