Stephy Mavididi spoke to the media this week about his move from Arsenal to Juventus last summer, as he comes to the end of his first season at his new club.

Mavididi spent pre-season with the Arsenal u23s last summer, as the first team went on tour to Singapore. The striker then started and scored against Manchester City in the first game of the Premier League 2 season, before completing his move to Juventus.

Given Eddie Nketiah was playing and scoring with the senior side in pre-season, it was no surprise to see Mavididi (one year Nketiah’s senior) on the way out. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get much of a chance with Arsenal this year, as he explained to the BBC.

“Last summer I came back to Arsenal for pre-season and was told it would be difficult for me to play in the first team,” Mavididi said. “My time at Arsenal was done. I had been there for eight years, but then Juventus came calling and I was on cloud nine again – it was an amazing feeling.

“I was speaking to the scout who told me he had been watching me for a while, telling me games I played in three years ago – I couldn’t even remember them, but he liked what he saw.

“When Juventus came calling, how could I turn it down? I didn’t think twice about it. I liked the project. I thought I can only improve, it is now down to me to kick on, train with these players and learn as much as I can. It was a massive opportunity and I am happy I have taken it.”

Mavididi has had a solid first campaign in Italy, scoring eight goals and assisting one for the Juventus u23s and making his debut for the first team in April. That was something he never managed at Arsenal, despite multiple loan spells to prepare him for senior football.

The 20-year-old isn’t going to want to stop there, and with any luck, 2019/20 will bring plenty more goals and first-team chances. It’s always good to see Arsenal academy products fulfilling their potential, and we may well see Mavididi on the pitch with Aaron Ramsey and Wojciech Szczesny next year.