West Ham United youth player Bowen Phillips has confirmed his transfer to Arsenal, thanking his former club for his development so far.

Posting on Instagram on Wednesday night, West Ham youngster Bowen Phillips confirmed his transfer to Arsenal, admitting the Gunners are the club he’s supported since he was a child.

“Happy to be offered a contract with my boyhood club Arsenal,” Phillips wrote.

“Thank you to all the staff at West Ham who have helped me to become the player I am now and can’t wait to see them one day in the future. The hard work starts now.”

Phillips could be seen in his signing picture alongside Arsenal academy manager Per Mertesacker.

The youth player was wearing a top with the number 18 on it, but the youth teams don’t have permanent numbers, assigning shirt numbers on a match-by-match basis.

More relevantly, the shirt did confirm Phillips is joining the Gunners as part of their u15 team.

Arsenal Youth report that Phillips will be eligible for a scholarship deal with Arsenal from the 2025/26 campaign.

It’s not uncommon for youth players to move between the London clubs at this age, before they get tied down to the longer-term contracts that make it more difficult to prise them away.

With Phillips already a supporter of the Gunners, the move probably wasn’t a hard sell in his case.