he Gunners believe they have unearthed a rare talent in the form of 18-year-old Danish youth international goalkeeper Lucas Nygaard.
Nygaard put pen to paper on his first professional deal on his 18th birthday as he signed on to join the Arsenal Academy.
The young stopper came up through the youth structures at FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark but jumped at the chance to join Arsenal.
He has played for Denmark at Under-16, 17 and 18 level and impressed Arsenal staff during his trial at the club.
Nygaard has promised to be the embodiment of the modern goalkeeper, coming from a club that likes their stopper to also be an adept footballer.
Why Nygaard chose Arsenal
“I’m really pleased to finally be here. I have a good feeling in my stomach,” Nygaard told Arsenal club media.
“As you all know, Arsenal is a big football club and I was really happy when my dad told me there was some interest and I was going here on a trial.
“I’m a modern goalkeeper who likes to play with my feet. I’m also good on the line, making great saves.
“I played for FC Nordsjaelland who also like the goalkeeper to play a lot, so they did a great job developing me.
“I’m looking forward to playing games again and winning a lot of games next season while developing.
“I’ve chosen Arsenal because I could see they like to play out from the back and that feels really good. The people around the club have been really great, so it wasn’t a hard decision.”
Arsenal’s strong tradition of world-class goalkeepers
Arsenal’s Academy has proven to be a great finishing school for promising young goalkeeper’s from abroad with the likes of Wojciech Szczesny and Emiliano Martinez honing their craft as junior players in north London tutelage before graduating into the first team.
The current crop of Arsenal goalkeepers at the Academy should benefit from fresh blood with James Hillson soon to age out of the setup. Elsewhere, Hubert Graczyk and Ovie Ejeheri have spent recent seasons out on loan playing senior football in lower leagues.
Arsenal have sparked some upheaval in their goalkeeping ranks with their decision to bring in David Raya as competition for Aaron Ramsdale.
Ramsdale has been persistently linked with a departure and it looks likely that Mikel Arteta will need to recruit another senior team stopper who is ready to play second fiddle to Raya.
