Has Jeff Reine-Adelaide been promoted?
Arsenal today welcomed first team players back to London Colony for the first day of pre-season training.
With preparations for the upcoming season already underway, it gives us the chance to analyse any changes that may be likely to occur for the upcoming campaign, with one notable possibilities being promotions.
A few young Gunners were present at training with the first team today, including the likes of Chuba Akpom, Yaya Sanogo and Jeff Reine-Adelaide. It raises the question for debate on whether we will see these three players in particular play a bigger role at Arsenal next season, instead of going out on loan or playing for the youth sides.
With Reine-Adelaide it raises interest because there is a lot of potential surrounding this wonderkid that Arsenal managed to get their hands on last summer. The 18 year old made an instant impact and impressed many when he signed for the Gunners last year, featuring in the pre-season Emirates cup competition.
Reine-Adelaide was today spotted in training with the first team and it could mean that the youngster may be in line for a promotion to the first team from the youth ranks. However there are a few other reasons why he could have be present in training today.
Firstly a lot of youth players do travel with the first team for Pre-Season. It allows them to test themselves and their ability to be integrated amongst the more regular first team players. Bearing in mind Wenger and co is preparing for Pre-Season at this stage, it’s possible Reine-Adelaide is simply in contention of a pre-season slot.
It should also be considered that a lot of first team players were authorised to be absent from the first days of training due to their international commitments over the summer. Reine-Adelaide and co could therefore have been simply making up the numbers for matter of taking part in training exercises rather than be in line for promotion.
Personally from what I’ve seen and heard, Jeff does have the potential to become an Arsenal star in the future and may be ready to have a little pop at first team duties already in this season. However if he is promoted, I’d still expect him to spend a period of time out on loan, to get regular playing time as well as competitive experience. It will help maximise his potential and will help his ability grow at such an important age. Instead of that, Wenger could be planning to integrate Jeff like he did with Alex Iwobi last season, so maybe we haven’t heard the last of this development just yet.
By AH