Reiss Nelson has named the four stars of Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup campaign he expects to succeed, ahead of competition’s final rounds.

Arsenal are currently in the semi-finals of the cup, facing two legs against Blackpool Youth. They play in Blackpool on Tuesday March 20th at 19:00, followed by the return leg at the Emirates Stadium on Monday April 16th, also at 19:00.

Nelson told the Arsenal website that there’s a good feeling around the club academy right now.

“It’s a really exciting time for all youth teams at the moment,” he said. “We’re near the top of the table in the Premier League 2 and we’re into the latter rounds of the FA Youth Cup. I think everyone’s just buzzing in the youth section of the training ground at the moment.”

As someone who still spends half his time with the youth teams, Nelson gets a better look than most at the next rising stars at Arsenal.

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Here are the four players he thinks we should watch out for:

3Folarin Balogun

Folarin Balogun (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
  • Age: 16
  • Position: Centre-forward

Still just 16 years old, Balogun wasn’t initially part of the Youth Cup run, only making the bench. However, the striker has been on fire with the u18s in the league all season.

In his last three league games he scored four goals and provided two assists, so it was no surprise to see him finally get a start against Colchester United in the cup quarter-final.

As usual, he made the most of that start with a goal, Arsenal’s fourth on the night.

Powerful and clinical, the young striker is just unlucky the Arsenal academy have Nketiah and John-Jules in the u23s. Otherwise he’d surely have played more than the 111 minutes he has this season for the top academy side.

Given his age, he’ll get plenty more chances in the coming years.

Nelson’s opinion

“Flo Balogun is like a young Eddie Nketiah up front because he gets into good positions and always scores goals.”

2017/18 stats

  • Premier League 2 (u23s): 5 appearances.
  • U18 Premier League: 14 appearances, 9 goals, 3 assists.
  • FA Youth Cup: 1 appearance, 1 goal.
  • Overall: 20 appearances, 10 goals, 3 assists.