Charlie Patino will leave Arsenal permanently if there is no clear role for him when he returns in the summer. But could he be the next in the line of players who failed to make the grade at Arsenal?.
His story appears to be like that of many other talented players over the years, breaking into Arsenal’s first team as a fresh-faced 18 year old. He was hailed as the next big thing and the best young player to walk through the doors at Arsenal.
1. Andy Cole
Andy Cole is one of the academy players who failed to make the grade at Arsenal despite having an illustrious footballing career in England. His spells at Newcastle and Manchester United is where he thrived the most but he started at Arsenal’s Academy. He spent three years at Arsenal and made two first team appearances, one in the charity shield which Arsenal eventually won.
At Manchester United, Cole won five Premier League titles, including a treble in 1999 completed by the FA cup and UCL.
2. Harry Kane
The Bayern Munich forward needs no introduction but very few know he began his footballing journey at Arsenal’s Academy.
Kane joined Arsenal from Ridgeway Rovers but was released after just one reason for the most bizarre reason.
3. Serge Gnabry
Gnabry enjoyed a similar and even better start to his Arsenal career than the first two. He had a year and half of regular first team football, impressing significantly before sustaining a long term injury.
He sealed a loan move to Westbrom on his return from injury which kept him out for over a year. This marked the beginning of a series of loan moves that eventually landed him at Bayern.
His performances at Bayern set the world alight on his potential and has since made Arsenal regret making him leave.
4. Joe Willock
Joe Willock joined Arsenal’s Academy as a four year old and progressed through the ranks into the first team.
He made over 40 appearances in the Arsenal first team scoring four goals. He joined Newcastle on an initial plan deal that became permanent after he was deemed surplus to requirements at Arsenal.
5. Folarin Balogun
Folarin Balogun emerged from Arsenal’s Academy and went on to make his Arsenal first team debut in 2020.
He joined Middleborough and then Reims (in France) on loan after failing to convince at Arsenal.
Balogun tore up the ligue un, scoring 21 times to finish fourth on the scorer’s log. He still couldn’t convince Arteta that he is ready to start week in week out, so, sealed a €40m move to Monaco.
