Tyreece John-Jules has been nominated for December’s Premier League 2 Player of the Month award, after a positive few weeks for the 17-year-old.
John-Jules made the PL2’s shortlist of five contenders, alongside Aaron Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion FC), Joshua Knight (Leicester City FC), Rabbi Matondo (Manchester City FC) and Moses Makasi (West Ham United).
The list was drawn up by the PL’s Football Development Panel after club managers nominated the best performances by opposing players in each of their matches.
In all honesty, December was a terrible month for the u23s. With a number of first-team call-ups and injuries weakening the squad, they suffered heavy losses in their two matches against Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. There are reduced youth fixtures over Christmas, so those were the only games they played.
However, John-Jules played well individually, scoring the only Arsenal goal of the month away to Liverpool and clearly impressing the two opposition managers. Not only that, but he must’ve caught Unai Emery’s eye, making it into the squad for the senior side’s match against Qarabag.
Here are some highlights from John-Jules’ season so far:
Tyreece John-Jules (2018/19) – Goals, assists, shots, chances created.
After his call-up to the senior squad I put together this comp of another emerging forward talent in the Arsenal academy. Enjoy! #AFC @tyreecejj9 pic.twitter.com/8byYoqjatZ
— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) November 28, 2018
The striker currently has Eddie Nketiah ahead of him in the first-team squad, but Nketiah is a couple of years older, so there’s still plenty of chances for Tyreece to get opportunities of his own. That’s particularly true if Nketiah ends up going on loan in the next season or two.
Let’s hope when the chances fall John-Jules’ way, he’s ready for them.