The Gunners’ have developed a clever habit over the years of bringing in promising young players and developing them themselves. The north Londoners have done just that on various occasions down the years.
William Saliba is perhaps the best current example, having joined Arsenal at the age of 18. After time both at the club and out on loan, the Frenchman has now established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League. Likewise, Gabriel Martinelli swapped Ituano in Brazil for the Emirates at the same age and has become a vital cog in Mikel Arteta’s first-team players.
Arsenal have now been linked to another emerging young talent in the form of 18-year-old Barcelona winger, Arnau Pradas. The youngster has impressed at U19 level in Spain this season, scoring two goals in six games.
Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo reports that the Gunners are interested in the teenager, whose contract is set to expire at the end of the current season, meaning Arsenal could get him in January for next to nothing. The publication also claims that the club’s interest has the ‘ok’ of Arteta, who is said to be aware of the youngster.
If Arsenal are successful in bringing Pradas to the Emirates, it would offer similar parallels to their move for Cesc Fabregas, who joined from Barcelona 21 years ago for just £2.25million. Although the dynamics of that move were slightly different to any involving Pradas, there are clear similarities in the Gunners reportedly attempting to pinch one of La Masia’s own for what would likely be a knockdown price, given his contract situation.
If Pradas goes on to have a carry anything like Fabregas, he won’t have done half bad. At the age of just 16, Fabregas became Arsenal’s youngest-ever player, before going on to make 303 appearances for the club, scoring 57 goals and bagging 95 assists.
Arsenal sold Fabregas back to Barcelona in 2011 for a staggering £25.4million – more than ten times the amount he was purchased for. He returned to the Premier League in 2014, this time wearing the blue of Chelsea in a reported £30million deal.
He made 198 appearances for the Blues before signing for Monaco in 2019. Fabregas then went to Como in 2022, retiring the very next year. While Arsenal are well-equipped in terms of forwards at present, with Saka tearing it up on the right and loanee Raheem Sterling making his presence known on the opposite flank, Arteta may be looking at the bigger picture.
Saka will be thirty by the time Pradas reaches the age of 25 – arguably when many players reach the prime of their career thanks to maturity and experience, and the Spaniard could well be looking out for the future successes of the club – especially given current left-winger Leandro Trossard is 29.
