Alexandre Lacazette has seemingly taken youth striker Tyreece John-Jules under his wing during Arsenal’s trip to Dubai, as the 18-year-old prepares to potentially play his first senior minutes.

With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang away with Gabon and Eddie Nketiah playing for the England u20s, Unai Emery needed a youth striker to fill in as a backup to Alexandre Lacazette on the mid-season trip to Dubai. Tyreece John-Jules had been called up for England u18 duty, but he withdrew to take advantage of the opportunity with his club.

Lacazette has made sure the youngster has no trouble settling in, with the pair spotted together in multiple photos and Arsenal’s Academy Twitter account posting that John-Jules is learning from the 27-year-old.

In many ways, the two are similar kinds of strikers. Their contribution to the team sometimes goes under the radar because of another prolific goalscorer (Aubameyang for Lacazette, Nketiah/Balogun for John-Jules) but their link-up play is excellent and helps the players around them, which is why they both get a lot of assists.

They’re also hard-working, pressing defenders and helping to win the ball back, and they do weigh in with goals as well. John-Jules has 12 goals and 7 assists this campaign, though he’ll want to be adding a few more at u23 level next season, as most have come in the u18s or the u21 EFL Trophy matches this campaign.

The youth forward could well get a chance in the first team in Dubai on Tuesday, let’s hope he can take it.