Arsenal youth coach, Andries Jonker, claims that Alex Iwobi is the embodiment of Arsenal DNA.

After naming the forward young player of the 2015/16 season, Jonker must be feeling pretty smug about Iwobi’s progress over the last year. A breath of fresh air, the 20-year-old injected energy and passion into a side that was severely lacking both of this attributes towards to end of last season.

Speaking during his Big Interview with Arsenal, Jonker hailed Iwobi’s progress and claims that he’s an example to all youth players.

“There are a couple of values at the club that we are using on all kind of levels: be together, act with class and move forward,” he said.

“This guy is mentally strong and is socially strong as part of the team. Act with class: to be complimented for everything. Move forward: he did, also in the moments that he didn’t look like moving forward. He’s a personification of a player with Arsenal DNA.

“I don’t want to give him too many compliments because he’s played maybe 10 games. We should speak about him like this after 100 games. But the player he is, the man he is, that’s what we want to be. That’s what we want to achieve with all those young players. He’s the example for all of them.”

Iwobi now appears to be part of Arsene Wenger’s long-term plans for the senior team, which is huge at his age given some of the players we already have in his position. He’s a testament to our academy and proof that sometimes, it can work.

Jonker and Wenger seem to really believe in Iwobi’s potential and I reckon he could have a brilliant future ahead of him if he keeps his head down and continues the way he has been.