Although most of the focus this summer has been on which ready-made stars Arsenal are going to bring into the team, the Gunners are also still aiming to have our Academy well-stocked with talented youngsters to be trained in the Arsenal way and work their way up through the ranks.
It appears that Sven Mislintat is currently setting his sights on Marcelo Flores, whose father Ruben was a professional in Mexico. He then went to Canada but has now moved his son to Ipswich after luckily meeting the Town academy coach Steve Foley in the Cayman Islands. Foley was immediately impressed with the young Marcelo. He said in the East Anglian Times: “He (Marcelo) stuck out like a sore thumb, he reminded me of a young Craig Bellamy and I thought to myself ‘Wow, who is this kid?’
“He made a big impression on me but the only way we were going to know if he was as good as he seemed, no disrespect to football in the Cayman Island and Canada, was for him to come and train with the academy at Ipswich.
“We have used him mainly as a striker but he can play in different positions – he just wants to play.
“He is quick, naturally fit and hungry for the ball, he doesn’t have to be told to go and get it back.”
He has now been at Ipswich for a couple of years and must be pretty impressive if he has caught the attention of Mislintat, who according to the Mirror is apparently trying to tempt him to come to our Academy this summer instead