Leeds United are set to complete the £3m signing of Arsenal academy striker Sam Greenwood today, according to reports.
The Athletic report that Leeds United are hoping to complete the six-figure signing of Arsenal youth forward Sam Greenwood this week. That figured is believed to be £3m with Wolves looking to bring in the striker who only joined from Sunderland in 2018 and signed professional terms last year.
Leeds Live claim Greenwood is having a medical today ahead of the £3m transfer – inclusive of bonuses.
According to rumours on social media, Greenwood is unhappy at the club. Perhaps due to homesickness or the fact he isn’t progressing as quickly as he planned.
As with many of Arsenal’s other young attacking options, Greenwood is suffering from being one of a fairly large group at London Colney.
Last season, the youth striker was battling with Folarin Balogun and Tyreece John-Jules for minutes in the u23s, with Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli sweeping up any available first-team minutes.
He played regularly with the u18s in 2019/20, but that’s basically the bare minimum for an 18-year-old. His u23 minutes were comparatively low, even if he did get a couple of chances directly before lockdown.
Overall, Greenwood scored six and assisted one in 24 appearances last season. Six of those goal contributions came in 17 games for the u18s, with the other one in his seven games for the u23s/u21s.
Is Greenwood a big loss?
Capable of playing centrally or out wide, Greenwood is a strong technical player. He takes excellent free-kicks and can play the ball almost equally well with either foot.
He has talent but is also a little lightweight at the moment, and wasn’t scoring enough from open play in 2019/20. Albeit the u18s weren’t doing very well as a unit, so he perhaps wasn’t getting the support he needed.
It would be a shame to lose him this early, and it would put pressure on others to step up. If Folarin Balogun also leaves and Tyreece John-Jules goes on loan, Luke Plange is next in line.
After that, it’s down to Khayon Edwards and Billy Vigar to play for the u23s, who were both mostly in the u16s last season. So from that point of view, Greenwood isn’t one Arsenal will want to let go. At the same time, it may well provide opportunities for others.
Sam Greenwood from the Daily Cannon Archive – 15 October, 2019
Sam Greenwood kept his excellent recent goalscoring record for the England youth teams going with a winner against Slovakia.
Facing the Slovakia u19s with the England u18s, Greenwood was handed the captain’s armband and in October. The striker took the responsibility on his shoulders and came up with the winning goal, scoring in the second half to make it 1-0.
The goal was assisted by another Arsenal academy product – Yunus Musah, now of Valencia.
The midfielder found himself out wide and cut the ball back for Greenwood in the centre of the box. The striker finished powerfully into the bottom-left corner of the net.
Sam Greenwood scored the winner for the England u18s over Slovakia u19s today, assisted by his former teammate Yunus Musah.
Miguel Azeez also came off the bench to see out the 1-0 win. #AFC pic.twitter.com/HdOga9vs9b
— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) October 14, 2019
Since joining Arsenal in the summer of 2018, Greenwood has been consistently impressive for the England youth teams. He scored 12 goals in 14 games for the England u17s from September to May, before receiving a deserved promotion to the u18s.
Unfortunately, he missed the last international break with injury, so the current break is the first chance he’s had to join the u18 side. As you can see, he appears to be carrying his form up the ranks.
With Arsenal, Greenwood’s season has been a bit disrupted due to that injury, but he does have two goals in five u18 starts so far. He also recently came off the bench for the u23s to make his debut appearance.
The striker may need a bit of an adaptation period, after playing out wide for so much of last season.
With Folarin Balogun stepping up to the u23s, Greenwood is now expected to feature centrally, but he’s done that a lot for England and Sunderland in the past, so it shouldn’t be a big issue.