Kevin Campbell feels sorry for Charlie Patino because the midfielder is breaking into the Arsenal first-team when the older players are underperforming.
The youngster earned his debut in the Carabao Cup match against Sunderland, and he scored off the bench.
His first competitive start for the Gunners came in the FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal struggled in that game and eventually lost it 1-0, with Patino not being able to enjoy his full debut for the club.
The midfielder is undeniably talented, but in that fixture, the more experienced players around him let him down, reckons former Arsenal man, Campbell.
He tells Football Insider: “I’ve got to say I felt sorry for the young lad Patino.
“He has come in and everyone around him is awful.
“Everyone is more experienced than him. In a game like that the senior player should be helping the youngsters but that wasn’t the case. The other players did not play well and did not help him. He got nothing.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
The quality of the senior players around any youngster will help the player develop.
The Gunners’ current midfield is missing an important piece in Thomas Partey, while Granit Xhaka has proven he cannot be trusted.
Patino will still play with much better teammates soon and we expect to see him become a first team regular soon.
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This pundit lacks a topic for discussion. Young Charlie will be fine.
Omari Hutchinson is the other even performing better than Patino in my opinion. Really good lad.
What a strange view from Super Kev, I doubt very much that Patino is feeling sorry for himself, just disappointed that we lost, are out of the FA Cup and he was part of a team that under performed on the day
But he has started his break through into the first team, he wouldn’t have got carried away with his first senior goal against Sunderland and can’t afford to get too down about the Forest game. there will be other chances for him, maybe Sunday and he needs to be ready and play better than he did against Forest
He is part of things on merit and “older players” have their own games to focus on during a match, they can help him at training sessions etc but in the match his performance is down to him and he will be as responsible for the overall team performance as the older guys alongside him