The Nigerian U17 WorldCup winner Kelechi Nwakali has not even moved to Arsenal yet, but it appears that he has asked for the Number 25 shirt to be allocated to himfor next season, and Arsene Wenger has agreed. This number was last used by Carl Jenkinson before he went to West Ham on loan (what does that mean for Carl?)
Nwakali has finally signed a five-year contract with the Gunners on turning 18 recently, and his old boss at the All-Star’s, Amajiriaku, told the Breaking Times in Nigeria: “Arsenal have informed us that Kelechi has been handed the number 25 jersey. He was trying to get that number because of Kanu Nwankwo, so he’s happy they gave it to him, ”
Nwakali cannot come to London as he is still with the Nigeria U20 squad, and Amajiriaku says it is now down to Arsenal to discuss with them when he can finally arrive at the Emirates. “Kelechi is no longer our property, we can’t decide when he’ll travel to London. No one knows the mind of Arsene Wenger, they need him urgently but we want him to play for Nigeria.
“The coach and the Nigeria Football Federation will have to decide,” he added.
Nwakali is obviously very talented judging by his Player-of-the-Tournament award at the U20 World Cup, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on in training with the big boys this summer….
Admin
Yes. Hope the young boy will be level headed like Nwankwo. He has the talent and can be noted within two years in the team.
Haha…you got moderated because of Kanu’s first name lol
Oh Admin. I forget. Just that that was the name the little boy was known in school just before 1993 stardom. Yes N. Kanu. Kanu at Arsenal. Thanks. Actually, he is the one that turned me into die hard Arsenal fan.
A big capture IMO… Extremely sought after young player after proving so big on the biggest of youth tournaments. Can’t claimed to have watched anything other than his highlights. But seems like he could develop into the complete package.
The squad number he has been handed looks interesting to me. Other than the number being won by a fellow Nigerian, I believe that it also means Nwakali will be going to the senior team straight away..you don’t get allocated number 25 if you are meant to play with the reserve team.
I wish him the best in Arsenal’s and Nigeria’s colour.
i feel the addition of this young man to our squad is great news for us . i wish him all the very best and that he may wear the 25 jersey with pride and passion and flare.
We’re certainly well stocked in this position numbers wise. Our youth team like the first team has allot of very interesting players in this position. I believe this lad like Beilik, like Crowley, will be apart of our future. Beilik has been deployed in cb, but when in the 1st team he has played cdm, I think that’s where he’ll be. Cant wait to see Kelechi playing alongside Beilik, and maybe Sheaf or Crowley in to make the diamond.
Interesting addition, if you are given a senior squad number means your going to be part of the senior squad, that is to my understanding, i consider him to be a box to box player, which means we are fully stock or more like over stock.
interesting times at arsenal, right now we are focus on the Euros, but after the Euros we may see a lot more outs than what we had expected