Arsenal have seen the likes of Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah feature in the first team under Mikel Arteta, giving hope to all the club’s young players.
One player who may have first-team aspirations moving forward is Marcelo Flores, who has been branded as something of a wonderkid.
Signed from Ipswich Town in 2019, Flores drew interest from England’s biggest clubs before picking a move to the Emirates Stadium.
Primarily a number 10 who can also play out wide, Flores can play for Mexico or Canada in the future, and has already scored one in two Under-18 Premier League games this season.
Flores has a huge future ahead of him, and the 16-year-old is now taking another step towards the Arsenal first-team having already trained with Arteta’s side this month.
Flores’ father Ruben has told Milenio that the teenager will pen a five-year professional contract on October 1st – tomorrow – because that’s when Flores turns 17.
Ruben added that Saka is the blueprint because he was at a similar stage to Flores two years ago, but is now a first-team player – and with Per Mertesacker ‘excited’ by his progress, there are real hopes for him to break into the first team.
“He has a contract for the next two years to play in the U18, but I already have an agreement in which he will sign a professional contract for the next five years with Arsenal, according to UEFA and FIFA rules it cannot be done until October 1 of this year, which is when he (Marcelo) turns 17,” said Ruben Flores.
“Two years ago Bukayo Saka played where Marcelo is playing now and last year he debuted in the Europa League, and now they gave him a contract with the first team, he played every game and is already a first team player; So, to put it in perspective, in two years Marcelo could be playing for Arsenal’s first team if the results come. So they want to give him a professional contract. In addition, Per Mertesacker, world champion with Germany and former captain of Arsenal, is the director of the Academy and he has a lot of faith in him and he is very excited to have Marcelo, they have treated him wonderfully and he offered him this contract for five years that we are going to sign in October,” he added.
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