Arsenal sign highly regarded young striker from Fulham

Arsenal have bolstered their academy ranks with the signing of Fulham’s Mika Biereth, according to The Athletic.

The London-born center forward was the top scorer in Under 18s Premier League South with 21 goals and 13 assists in 21 games.

The report further suggested that the 18-year-old turned down a contract extension at Craven Cottage to favour a move to the Emirates Stadium instead.

He also helped Fulham’s Under 18 side to the Premier League National Final, where they came up short against a hugely talented squad of Manchester City.

It is safe to say that Arsenal are building something exciting for the future. They acquired the services of Nikolaj Moller on a cut-price deal last summer, while also acquiring highly thought of youth player in Amani Richards, 16, from rivals Chelsea.

The Gunners have also shown strong interest in another Chelsea academy player, Valentino Livramento, while also tracking the development of Everton’s Thierry Small.

Now, the club has a plethora of young strikers oozing genuine ability to break onto the men’s scene in a few years’ time.

Folarin Balogun is the latest name to be promoted to the first team and many youngsters will be expected to make a similar step.

With Moller out on loan to German third-tier side Viktoria Koln, Biereth can expect to be handed some minutes with Arsenal’s reserve squad. He already has few minutes of U23 football in his legs.

Looking back, the youngster broke into Fulham’s U18 picture at 14, making his debut for them just before his 15th birthday. There are very few youngsters who make their u18 debut at the age of 14.

It is a clear sign of his ability and Arsenal would be delighted that he will undergo further development at their base rather than on someone’s else.

Yash Bisht

 

Tags Mika Biereth

6 Comments

  1. He looks way older – did they post the right photo? lol
    Great record and our youth roster is really starting to look exciting.
    All credit to our youth program and perhaps most importantly we have the proof that not only can you improve here to the the very highest level, but also young players get a chance in the first team..
    Whilst Nelson and Nketiah my not make the grade they at least had reasonable opportunities, as did Willock and AMN. Icing on the cake of course are ESR and Saka, with Balogun and Azeez following on.
    Both the chances and the training here seem to have the edge over most other EPL clubs.

  2. Academy players rarely form the backbone of contending teams.

    At Chelsea, Mason Mount and Calum Husdon-Odoi are the only two Academy players who play regularly. Hudson-Odoi is rumored to be sold in this transfer window.

    At Manchester City Phil Foden is the only youth player to be advanced to the first team in recent memory.

    At Manchester United, a club that has a better-than-average record fo advancing its youth players, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Dean Henderson, and Jesse Lingard are first teamer, but Lingard is likely to leave and Jadon Sancho is likely to push one of Rashford or Greenwood either out of the team or into reduced roles.

    At Liverpool, Trent Alexander Arnold is the only academy player who plays regularly.

    Arsenal have a record of bringing youth players through the team, but a fair number of those youth players were acquisitions from other academies (Like Hector Bellerin) Currently, Arsenal Have Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe as regular contributors from the Academy. Nketiah, Maitlan-Niles, Willock, Balogun, Okonkwo and Reiss Nelson are on the team, but Willock played for Newcastle last season, Mailtland-niles is expected to leave, Reiss Nelson did not play, Okonwo is just brought up as was Balogun, and Nketiah barely kicked a ball last season.

    Not one top six team in recent memory except Tottenham tried to build around academy players; and the Spurs have yet to win a single trophy.

    The reality is, small teams depend on their academies for players; big teams buy success.

    1. you’re on fire today Paul, always good to see someone bring some much-needed realism to the equation, especially now that there’s been a concerted effort on the part of a few regular contributors to oversell Arteta’s contributions to our club…for me, until I see some definitive results, he’s a 3 dressed up as a 9…that said, I’ll gladly eat my words, should things drastically change during the upcoming season

  3. paul35mm, what an informative post.
    Hadn’t realised these figures and it puts the idea of having academies into question a little.
    Mind you, if we sold Saka for his current value, that would see an excellent return!!!!

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