Well, Salah-Eddine hasn’t wasted any time in impressing Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta it seems.
The Gunners confirmed on August 22 that they had signed the 18-year-old on a free transfer.
Arsenal signed several teenage players in and around the same time and, given their age, it was assumed that they were being recruited to play Under-23 football at very best.
But Salah-Eddine has clearly made his mark on the Spanish manager over the past two weeks.
Earlier on Friday, the young midfielder was spotted in Arteta’s first-team training at London Colney, sharing a field with some of the club’s biggest and best players.
Here’s some pictures of Salah – his nickname – mixing it with Rob Holding and Joe Willock today:
One of the great things about Arteta is that he puts his money where his mouth is.
He said after Arsenal appointed him that he’d pick players based on how they trained and that’s why Eddie Nketiah has played a lot more football for the North Londoners in 2020 – a Championship striker with Leeds this time last year – than Mateo Guendouzi or Mesut Ozil.
If you apply yourself at London Colney then there’s a chance you’ll excel under Arteta, though it still seems unlikely that Salah will be making a Premier League debut for quite some time.
Still, he’s clearly already in Arteta’s line of sight and that, you could argue, is a huge step forward in such a short length of time.
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