Arsenal appear to have another teenager on the road to stardom with right back Brooke Norton-Cuffy shining on loan at Lincoln City.
The Gunners have seen Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe become first-team stars after emerging from the now-famous Hale End academy.
The hope for Arsenal will be that more and more young players emerge in a similar way. Charlie Patino and Folarin Balogun certainly have the hype behind them.
Right back Norton-Cuffy doesn’t quite have that same tape, but it may not be long until he actually does.
Norton-Cuffy, 18, is clearly well-regarded at Arsenal. Having made his Premier League 2 debut at the age of just 16 in October 2020, there are high hopes for Norton-Cuffy.
In January, Arsenal agreed to loan Norton-Cuffy to League One side Lincoln City.
Lincoln boss Michael Appleton has quickly been impressed, predicting that Norton-Cuffy will become a Premier League regular one day.
On Saturday, Norton-Cuffy produced possibly his best Lincoln moment so far, sweeping a quite brilliant finish into the net against Sheffield Wednesday.
That helped Lincoln to a 3-1 win over the Owls, giving Norton-Cuffy his first senior goal in the process.
Lincoln couldn’t help themselves, taking to Twitter to rename him ‘Brooke Norton-Cafu’ after his goal.
As one of the most decorated right backs in the history of football, Arsenal won’t be expecting Norton-Cuffy to reach Cafu’s level.
Yet having clearly earned a very lofty nickname inside a couple of months of senior action, it’s clear that the teenager has huge potential.
That may just give Edu and Mikel Arteta something to think about amid recent transfer claims.
The Northern Echo claim that Arsenal are looking to sign Djed Spence or Isaiah Jones, who are both currently at Middlesbrough.
Both players are attack-minded right backs – or preferably wing backs – and that’s seemingly what Arsenal want.
Takehiro Tomiyasu is very good but maybe isn’t a truly ‘modern-day’ full back. Another right back signed by Edu was Cedric Soares, but he doesn’t fit that bill either.
Norton-Cuffy will now hope to show that he can do that job and become another Saka or Smith Rowe having excelled early into his League One career.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
