Arsenal teenager Marcelo Flores looks to be travelling for tonight’s game against Crystal Palace in a first call-up to the matchday squad.
Arsenal head across London to take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park tonight as they continue their push for Champions League football.
Mikel Arteta won’t be looking to take any risks for tonight’s game, but he seems to be giving youngster Flores a taste of the big time.
Flores’ father Ruben has taken to Twitter to claim that the teenager has been called up to the Arsenal first team for the first time tonight.
Flores has trained with the first team before but this is the first sign of him being involved in a travelling match day squad.
Ruben added that he is ‘proud and excited’ as Flores prepares to make the journey to Selhurst Park with Arsenal tonight.
The dream for Flores will be to become like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, who emerged from the Arsenal academy to become first-team stars.
With the likes of Zak Swanson, Zach Awe and Omari Hutchinson have all been on the Arsenal bench of late.
That means Flores may well be a substitute for Arsenal tonight, even if it’s more likely that he will travel just in case of a pre-game injury.
Who is Arsenal talent Marcelo Flores?
Flores, 18, was born in Canada but actually plays for Mexico on the international stage.
The teenager has already picked up his first senior cap for Mexico, featuring against Chile back in December.
Signed from Ipswich Town in 2019, Flores is a technically-gifted midfielder who plays predominantly as a number 10.
In 11 Under-18 Premier League games this season, Flores has racked up six goals and two assists.
Add in three goals and one assist across eight Premier League 2 games and Flores has been showing huge potential this season.
Mikel Arteta has clearly noticed that, and we could see Flores in the Arsenal squad in just a matter of hours.
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