Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has named younger defender Reuell Walters on the bench for the second time this week.
The 18-year-old gem was concerned within the Gunners’ squad of their Europa League defeat to Sporting CP in midweek and was a part of the Premier League squad once more because the north Londoners welcomed Crystal Palace on the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
His youthful presence within the first crew is basically all the way down to accidents, with William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu the newest names to battle and regardless of not enjoying any minutes in each outings he’s certainly in line for an awesome future round these components.
Who’s Reuel Walters?
Walters joined Arsenal as an U16 participant in 2021, having taken a brief break from rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the place he performed for 4 years.
In February final 12 months, {the teenager} signed his first skilled contract, clearly impressing Per Mertesacker and Arteta together with his performances for the U18s and U23s at right-back.
He clearly continued to draw consideration as he featured for the seniors in a number of pre-season friendlies in Germany and America earlier than turning into a extra frequent presence in first-team coaching this 12 months.
Given his previous hyperlinks with the Lilywhites and his capacity to additionally play in central defence, the Gunners may effectively unearth their subsequent Sol Campbell, who controversially signed for the membership in 2001 after eight full seasons at White Hart Lane.
Talking about his performances throughout pre-season, soccer.london journalist Kaya Kaynak stated he “actually impressed“, whereas the Morning Star journalist Layth Yousif hailed him as an “excellent prospect” who has “a string of fantastic performances beneath his belt” earlier this month.
It is perhaps some time earlier than he can usurp Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes or Benjamin White from Arteta’s beginning XI in north London, however what’s clear is that Hale Finish has one more promising native gem who may sooner or later function within the first crew.
Given his capacity to play middle and proper, and his allegiance transfer from Spurs to Arsenal, the Spaniard might effectively have unearthed a future membership legend in Walters.
Solely time will inform, though the primary indicators are extraordinarily encouraging.
