Jeff Reine-Adelaide has admitted it was not easy leaving Arsenal, but it was something he had to do for the sake of his career. This is Arsenal’s big problem about concentrating on bringing in lots of top youngsters when, no matter how good they are, it is very difficult to get intothe senior team which demands instant success. The 20-year old Jeff arrived at the club way back in 2015, as one of the most promising young signings under Arsene Wenger, but he only managed to make eight first-team appearances in his three years with the Gunners.
And as such he was sent out on loan to get some regular game time and first team experience in hope a return to the Emirates would merit a chance to be part of Emery’s 22-man squad for the upcoming season.
But after being left out of the squad for our pre-season tour to Singapore, he took the big decision to make his 6-month loan deal at Angers into a permanent one and try and forge a career for himself away from London.
However, he has revealed that leaving us was not a decision he took lightly, and that the love he felt while on-loan at Angers would a big selling point.
He said: “It was hard for me to stay three years there, knowing that I was almost never playing and that I only participated in training.
“It was a very complicated situation.
“It was not easy to leave Arsenal but the loan I made here last season from February to May weighed heavily. It’s a family club here, I needed that.”
Wenger made sure he beat off a number of Europe’s top clubs to land Adelaide, a player he once described as ‘something special’.
But we know the club are no fools and have probably added a buy-back clause in his contract just in case he fulfils that potential on the coming seasons, and will be keeping a close eye on his development at Angers over the new few seasons. But right now we have so many more top youngsters, like Smith-Rowe, Nketiah, Willock and Nelson, who would all likely be fast-tracked into the first team at lower League clubs, but will only likely play in the League cup and maybe Europa League early rounds if they are lucky…
How many of our youths go on loan and don’t want to come back?
Iomie