by Lewis Ambrose

Arsenal have confirmed the signings of 14 youth players, with three signing young professional contracts.

Eight of the players involved have come through the Hale End Academy, which Arsenal are heavily trying to improve upon. Ivan Gazidis and Arsène Wenger have both said that for a club of our size our production of our very own youth players has not been good enough, and Andries Jonker was brought in in 2014 to lead a reformation of the Academy.

Young professionals

The club has signed three players on as young professionals, with high hopes for the players.

Finnish goalkeeper Hugo Keto joined the club last summer, playing once in the UEFA Youth League last season. He doesn’t turn 18 until February.

Stephy Mavididi played at a higher level, playing in 10 u21 Premier League games and scored twice in seven UEFA Youth League games despite only turning 17 in May.

New signing Jeff Reine-Adelaide has joined the club from RC Lens, having recently been a part of the French side which won the u17 European Championships.

Scholars

The scholars include a number of youth internationals. New signings Yassin Fortune and Vlad Dragomir have already been talked about. Fortune joins alongside Reine-Adelaide and also played for France at the u17 Euros, while Dragomir is the Romanian u16 captain whose agent has compared to Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos.

Also new to the club is Jordi Osei-Tutu, an attacking full-back who signs from Reading and Cypriot defender Kostas Pileas.

Hale End has produced seven of the scholars. Nathan Tella, Edward Nketiah, Tolaji Bola, Marcus Agyei-Tabi, Joshua Dasilva and Charlie Gilmour are all expected to play for the u18 team next season, along with Joseph Willock whose brother Chris has already made the step up.

Congratulations to all of them, and hopefully we see much more of them in Arsenal shirts for the years to come!

For any more information be sure to check out Jeorge Bird’s work, as he will no doubt keep everyone up to date on the progress of the young talents.