Now that we’ve reached 2018, let’s take a look back at the top-three standout Arsenal youth prospects of the year just gone.
2017 was generally a good year for the Arsenal academy.
Graduates like Alex Iwobi, Jack Wilshere and Hector Bellerin are all now first-team regulars. In fact, Arsenal gave more minutes to academy players than anyone in the top two divisions. As well as that, many more youngsters took advantage of the Europa League matches and the League Cup run to make their debuts.
Here are our top-three:
1Ainsley Maitland-Niles
In 2017, Maitland-Niles finally got the first-team breakthrough with Arsenal he’d been waiting for.
The 20-year-old made his debut way back in 2014/15, but had be patient waiting for a run of games. In between, he spent a successful loan spell at Ipswich Town in the Championship, in 2015/16.
He started off 2017 impressively.
He started in the Gunners’ FA Cup tie against Preston North End, and helped the team to a win. Then, he moved into central midfield against Southampton, and looked as though he’d been playing there for years.
Arsenal won that match 5-0, and the hype started to build around the youngster’s performances. He only made one further appearance in 2016/17, against Sutton United, but Wenger clearly saw something in the u21 international, picking him for the squad in big games against Chelsea and Manchester City.
Wenger continued to give Maitland-Niles chances in pre-season, and then in the current campaign. Although he was playing in entirely new positions, at centre-back, or left wing-back, the young midfielder always gave a good account of himself.
As a result, he played every minute of Arsenal’s Europa League run. He also made his first Premier League start, and appeared in all five games at the end of December.
After Kolasinac’s injury, I can only see him getting more chances in the new year.