There has always been a lot of focus at Arsenal Football Club on the youth system. It is part of the football philosophy of Arsene Wenger to try to build from solid foundations and while we sometimes get a little bit frustrated with the boss not seeming to focus enough on short term success it is hard to argue that having a good academy is not important.
We have heard quite a lot about it recently as well, especially one particular player Reiss Nelson after the 17-year old really caught the eye when on the pre-season tours of Australia and China. The young Gunner carried on this impressive form this season with the under 23 team and also came on for an impressive cameo off the bench against FC Cologne on Thursday.
Nelson is not the only academy player looking good though, because our under 23s are going along very nicely in the Premier League 2 campaign, which has got to be a good thing for the future of Arsenal. Last night they took another with a 1-0 win over Leicester City and that makes it four wins out of five and sees Arsenal joint top of the U23 table with Liverpool.
Along with the impressive Reiss Nelson Arsenal have some real up and coming talent in the shape of players like Chuba Akpom, Gedion Zelalem, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Cohen Bramall, Kelechi Nwakali, Krystian Bielik and more along with recent graduates like Iwobi and Naitlan-Miles already featuring for the first team.
Recent years have not seen too many players progress through the Arsenal ranks but could we now be set for a glut of young Gunners coming through?
Bob.