Arsenal are set to release Vontae Daley-Campbell and Bayli Spencer-Adams this summer, in addition to the seven players already confirmed on the club website.
On Friday, Arsenal announced that seven players would be leaving the club at the expiry of their contracts on June 30th. The list included Cohen Bramall, Petr Cech, Charlie Gilmour, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Julio Pleguezuelo, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck.
ArsenalYouth reports that Vontae Daley-Campbell and Bayli Spencer-Adams will join those seven players following the expiry of their scholarship deals with the club.
Bayli Spencer-Adams
In the case of Spencer-Adams, it appears Arsenal decided to let him go after an injury prematurely ended his season in January.
The 17-year-old would have had to step up to the u23s next season, as he turns 18 this month, and there were just too many players ahead of him for that to be a worthwhile option.
Mark McGuinness and Harry Clarke formed an excellent centre-back partnership for the u18s, and they’ll both be stepping up as well, joining the likes of Daniel Ballard, Zech Medley, Ben Sheaf and others in the u23s, so there was just no space for Spencer-Adams as well.
It’s a shame because Spencer-Adams was far from the worst performer for the u18s this campaign, he’s just been unlucky with his injury and the stacked squad.
Vontae Daley-Campbell
Daley-Campbell’s situation is very different. He was offered a professional contract last summer, but he reportedly refused to sign it.
Reportedly that refusal was as a result of his desire for more game time. However, given he’d only turned 17 a few months before the start of the season, it’s strange that he felt he should’ve had more chances already. There aren’t many players playing regular u23 football in the season they turn 17.
Seemingly as a result of that stand-off, the right-back didn’t get any chances at u23 level this campaign, even when Jordi Osei-Tutu was out with injury and suspension. It’s no surprise that he didn’t change his stance on signing a new deal as a result.
Daley-Campbell has a lot of talent, and he’ll likely be signed up by another club in one of Europe’s top five leagues. At the same time, my personal opinion is that he did also have some deficiencies in his game.
The right-back was excellent going forward, but his defensive positioning wasn’t always as impressive. He tended to leave spaces behind him (admittedly a common trait at Arsenal) but he also never made much of an effort to close them.
Perhaps he’ll develop that aspect of his performances and become a top right-back, but I don’t think he was ready for the chances Arsenal would have had to give him to convince him to stay.