Arsenal have confirmed the signings of Catalin Cirjan and Jason Sraha as first-year scholars, along 10 players promoted internally.
Catalin Cirjan, who has been linked with the club since last August, finally arrived in England to complete his move in May. However, we had to wait another two months before Arsenal confirmed the deal on Monday.
Cirjan joins from Romanian side Viitorul Domnesti, where he’s been playing senior third-tier football since the age of 13. Now 16, it was time for the next step up in the attacking midfielder’s career, and he’s signed scholarship terms with Arsenal.
Meanwhile, left-footed Chelsea youth centre-back Jason Sraha is also confirmed to be joining the club, as originally reported by TheChels.net last week. Arsenal write that he’s calm and composed in and out of possession.
In addition to the two new signings, Arsenal have also announced 10 players from inside the club’s academy who will be stepping up as first-year scholars. We’d already covered eight of them, but Kido Taylor-Hart and Luke Plange complete the intake:
- Hubert Graczyk – Goalkeeper
- Ovie Ejeheri – Goalkeeper
- Mazeed Ogungbo – Centre-back/Left-back
- Jason Sraha – Centre-back
- Alex Kirk – Centre-back
- Daniel Oyegoke – Right-back
- Levi Laing – Defender
- Miguel Azeez – Central midfielder
- Kido Taylor-Hart – Attacking-midfielder
- Catalin Cirjan – Attacking-midfielder
- Nathan Butler-Oyedeji – Left-winger
- Luke Plange – Striker
Good luck to all in their first year as scholars, and hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot of them around the u18s this season.