Marcus McGuane has become the second former Arsenal academy star to join Dutch side Telstar on loan this season, with his move from Barcelona made official today.

On Monday, Telstar announced on their website that McGuane would be joining them for the remainder of the season. Charlie Gilmour, who left Arsenal on a free transfer to Norwich City this summer, also joined the same club on loan in mid-July.

It’s no surprise to see two Arsenal academy products joining the same club given who’s in charge at Telstar. Andries Jonker, the previous head of the Arsenal academy, took over management of the club earlier in the summer.

Clearly, Jonker saw an opportunity to bring in two players he knew well from his time in North London, and he was aware he could use his existing relationship with the pair to convince them to join.

“I remember Marcus from my time in London when he was still playing with Arsenal in the youth academy,” Jonker said. “He is a midfielder with an enormous talent, wore the captain’s armband at different teams and already made his debut for Arsenal and FC Barcelona.

“At his age, however, it is extremely important to get minutes, to play matches with a lot of competition in order to get better. He can do that here in Velsen-Zuid. Marcus has an enormous drive and is eager to play with us. I am very happy with his arrival.”

McGuane joined Barcelona in January 2018, and at first, it seemed like he was going to slot straight into the Barcelona B team. From May onwards, however, he’s really struggled to get games.

The midfielder made 16 appearances from May 2018 until his loan departure to Telstar, but only seven of those were starts. A total of 659 minutes only comes to 7.3 games’ worth in over a year.

Charlie Gilmour has already started four games for Telstar in a few weeks, playing 90 minutes of each one, so if McGuane can get the same opportunities this will be a really positive loan for him.

There are no guarantees, but Jonker’s presence should definitely help him to settle in.