Five Arsenal youth players were involved with their national teams over the October break, let’s look at how they got on.
Ethan Nwaneri was called up again by the England u19s for the current international break, after his strong showings with the Arsenal first team in September.
Nwaneri impressed in cameos against Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, but he really caught the eye with a couple of League Cup goals in a start against Bolton Wanderers.
But somewhat surprisingly, Nwaneri was the only Arsenal youngster involved with England from the u18s to the u21s.
The likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ayden Heaven, and Tommy Setford weren’t included, despite call-ups in September. Though in Setford’s case, that’s likely due to injury.
Arsenal did receive some youth call-ups from other national teams, however, with Maldini Kacurri, Brayden Clarke, Will Sweet, and Cam’ron Ismail all involved over the break.
Kacurri joined the Albania u21s for their u21 Euros qualifier, Clarke and Sweet featured for the Wales u19s for a couple of friendlies, and Ismail joined a training camp for the Egypt u20s.
Let’s take a look at how each of the youth internationals got on.
Arsenal youth international October fixtures and results
All times in BST
Wednesday, October 9th
- England u19s 1-2 Portugal (Friendly) – Nwaneri captained the side and played 74 minutes, scoring England’s only goal.
Thursday, October 10th
- Wales u19s 3-3 Italy (Friendly) – Clarke made his debut for the Wales u19s and played 90 minutes, whilst Sweet came on as a substitute for 18 minutes.
Saturday, October 12th
- England u19s 4-1 Netherlands (Friendly) – Nwaneri came on as a substitute for England for the final 25 minutes, with the team scoring two goals after his introduction.
Sunday, October 13th
- Wales u19s 4-3 Italy (Friendly) – Clarke made another start for Wales and played 90 minutes.
Tuesday, October 15th
- England u19s 4-2 France (Friendly) – Nwaneri scored his second goal of the break with an excellent finish from 20 yards out, captaining England once again. He played 68 minutes of the match.
- Albania u21s 1-0 Armenia (u21 Euro qualifier) – Kacurri was an unused substitute for Albania.