Arsenal talent Mathaeus Roberts has cited Bukayo Saka and Joe Willock as players who helped him make the step up from the academy to London Colney training ground.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the 16-year-old midfielder revealed that the Hale End graduates aided Roberts during lockdown. The Wales youth international has this season become a part of Arsenal’s U-18 side.
The teenager is very much at the start of his football career. Roberts has only made three appearances for Arsenal in the U-18 Premier League. Yet the talented midfielder has already made an impression on fans and coaches.
Arsenal have one of the best academies in England. With the aforementioned Saka as well as the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Ainsley Maitland-Niles key members of the Gunners first-team.
Willock, as well, has made the jump from academy football to the senior game. The midfielder joined Newcastle United in the summer after a brilliant loan spell with the Magpies last campaign.
And Roberts has admitted that Saka and Willock were influential figures for the teenager over the lockdown that brought football in England to a standstill.
Roberts reveals advice from Saka and Willock
Roberts said: “I spoke to Joe Willock and Bukayo in lockdown too. They talked me through their memories of stepping up from Hale End to Colney and I think that gave me a bit of an advantage when I arrived full-time at the training ground. Hopefully in time I’ll be able to emulate what they’ve achieved.”
With two recent Hale End graduates already passing on knowledge and advice to Arsenal prospects, it is an encouraging sign that the club are eager to bring more players from the academy into the first team in the coming years.
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