Zech Medley has signed a new contract with Arsenal, just a year and a half after agreeing his first professional deal with the club, as he continues his positive progress under Unai Emery.

Arsenal announced on Tuesday that Medley has signed his second professional contract with the club. The 18-year-old made his first-team debut for the club back in November, and he’s made two further senior appearances since then, which is impressive for such a young centre-back.

Medley signed for Arsenal from Chelsea on November 23rd, 2016, after a brief trial with the club a month earlier. After that, he worked his way up to becoming captain of the u18s by the following August, before earning a promotion to the u23s later in the 2017/18 season. One year later and he’s pushing for the first team squad.

It’s certainly been a quick rise to the top since leaving Chelsea, and Medley has admitted that Arsenal were the club he supported all along anyway.

“I’m very pleased and honoured to be signing another contract with this club,” the defender told the Arsenal website. “I’ve been supporting them since I was a kid and I’ve been watching them since I was young, so to be able to sign with such an amazing team is really good.”

This isn’t the first time Medley has admitted to being an Arsenal fan. After his first game at the Emirates Stadium, he wrote on Instagram: “Absolute dream come true to make my home debut for this amazing team and my boyhood club!”

Even during his Chelsea days, Medley couldn’t resist getting a picture alongside Arsenal legend Thierry Henry:

https://twitter.com/zechmedley/status/698506835872059392?lang=en

If you need further proof, here’s one of his tweets from seven years ago, when he was 12 years old:

#COYG!<3

— Zechariah Medley (@ZechMedley) December 17, 2012

Let’s hope the defender gets to live his dreams by stepping out onto the pitch for Arsenal for years to come.