Zech Medley was expected to be promoted to the first-team squad last season but that never happened and now he’s left Arsenal on loan.

Medley was on the first-team tour of the USA in the summer of 2019. He played the full 90 minutes against Colorado Rapids, before making a 10-minute appearance against Fiorentina, helping Arsenal to clean sheets on both occasions.

The centre-back was clearly in favour with Unai Emery, and the Independent claimed it was expected he’d be promoted to the first-team squad.

Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and Emile Smith Rowe all received promotions last summer, taking new first-team numbers. Medley however, remained part of the u23s, with the number 49.

As a regular watcher of the u23s, Arsenal fans were right not to go overboard with Medley. He was in great shape for Premier League football physically, and can play some lovely long passes, but his defensive work still needs some ironing out. Hopefully, that’s something he can work on while on loan with Gillingham.

One point I’d like to make is that his name is Zech, not Zach or Zac. It’s short for Zechariah rather than Zachary, and I’d imagine he must be pretty sick of people making this mistake.

The Independent have called him ‘Zach Medley’ in their article and they’re unlikely to be the last. To anyone reading this, try and make the effort to call him by the right name.

Hopefully, others will follow suit!

• This post was first published on 26 July 2019
• It was updated on 18 Augusts 2020 to reflect his season and loan deal