Arsenal academy midfielder Yunus Musah has joined Valencia CF, making his debut for VCF Mestalla against RKC Waalwijk on Saturday.

As reported earlier this month, talented 16-year-old midfielder Musah has looked likely to leave Arsenal for a while now.

The rest of Musah’s age group returned to pre-season and signed first-year scholarship deals in early July, whilst he’d been stalling on his offer for a few months at that stage.

There were reports suggesting Valencia had a verbal agreement for the young England u17 international to join them this summer, and now that story appears to have come to fruition.

As you can see above, Musah joined Valencia’s youth team for a pre-season match against RKC Waalwijk on Saturday. According to Eldesmarque, he’s now signed for the club, as opposed to being on trial, though neither Valencia nor Arsenal have officially confirmed this.

The game didn’t go particularly well, as Valencia fell to a 2-0 defeat, though Eldesmarque blames that more on the finishing than anything Musah did.

It’s a shame to lose the Arsenal youngster, as he and Miguel Azeez were considered two of the club’s top midfield talents in his age group.

The Gunners really couldn’t have done much more to keep Musah, given they’ve already given him 18 appearances at u18 level despite his continued eligibility for the u16s prior to this season.

The player must feel he has a better pathway to senior football somewhere else, so we wish him luck in Valencia!