When Rhys Murphy’s talents came to fruition during the 2005/2006 season, the instinctive striker became one of the most exciting talents in the country. Three years on, the Shoreham-by-Sea born youngster is looking to get back to his previous best, after two injury ravaged campaigns.
Rhys was a part of the hugely productive Wimbledon Academy which unfortunately disbanded and became Milton Keynes Dons, but Arsenal were keen to rescue several of the outstanding prospects. Kieran Gibbs, James Dunne, and Abu Ogogo all made the move to London, and although Murphy was a year younger than the other four, he was also granted the opportunity to come to the Gunners.
Arsenal kept in constant contact with his Brighton school to make sure his exploits for the club would not harm his education. During the 05/06 he was promoted to Steve Bould’s Under 18 side, and made a steady start to life with the Academy team.
The next season would be one which Rhys would show his true pedigree. The powerful, strong, and incredibly brave centre forward, would almost single handily win Arsenal the Under 18 Group. He would go on a crazy scoring spree which saw him hit the net twice in every game, for five fixtures. He ended the season with 17 goals in just 21 games.
International honours would beckon during the summer, as he joined Henri Lansbury and Gavin Hoyte in the England Under 17 team for the World Cup in Korea. Despite being suspended for the first group fixture, he returned to the team with a excellent headed goal against Belgium. They would go on to beat Brazil, but lost in the semi-finals.
By now his talents had been recognised by Arsène Wenger, and he was named in the Emirates Cup side to face Inter Milan. Although he warmed up on two occasions, unfortunately he never got off the bench.
Last year seemed to be the one where Murphy could push on and become a Reserves regular. However, a hernia problem just weeks into the start of the campaign ruled him out for most of the year.
Rhys admitted this time was the hardest of his young career so far, but came back in blistering form. As the Under 18s were struggling for results and goals, his return to the starting line up came at a perfect time. A series of starts and consecutive strikes saw him back to the Reserves. A typical poacher effort against Portsmouth led the way as he ended the season in style.
There was brief speculation that he could be moving on, but Liam Brady and Neil Banfield remain huge fans of the intelligent forward. He was awarded a two year professional contract last week, and should he steer clear of injury, the coming season promises to be his brightest yet.
Article By – J.Sanderson
good article seems like he could be a furture 1st team player
do you have any information on denilson because he got injured last season and since then iv heard nothing abouth him do you think he will make it at arsenal or is it just a matter of time before he leaves us
Arsenal seem to have a number of forwards coming through. Murphy seems more of striker similar to ashton but more of a goal scorer. We have Bendtner who I think will be a star , similar to ibrahimovic, berbatov and a bit of bergkamp.
Just a quick question Mr Sanderson, I’m studying coaching for my first FA badge and will like to know how often and likely teams recruit (inexperienced) coaches to coach youths? Thanks in advance
Hes looked good when i saw him back at the end of the season, gets in great positions, bit of a goal poacher, although ive heard hes also known for his dribbling ability which i havent seen much of yet.
Hope he stays injury free next season and gets back to his free scoring best that ur describing.
The early signs are certainly promising for Rhys.
As for Denilson he first needs to get back fit, with the amount of central players at the club, he will have a huge fight on his hands. Only time will tell.
I feel Denilson won’t make it at Arsenal but he is a good player. I envisage him going to somewhere like Spain and doing a good shift for a top club. I have high hopes for Randall who I feel is the type of player England don’t produce as much (they produce box to box rather than playmaykers) and if he is sold I think we may regret it but we have Fabregas.
also J i know u did a article on mannone but i was to late to get an early comment on him so ill ask my question here do u think he will start in the carling cup or be on the bench
J, realistically what are his chances of making the first team in the future? Also with which strikers can he be compared with as I have not seen too much of him? Good article.
He won’t make it
What about Sanchez Watt? Apparently Barcelona are monitoring him!
That is according to http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/big-things-expected-of-rhys-murphy-and-sanchez-watt/
The new Eduuardo?
goonerguy – he will push for a start certainly
GunnerRashidinho – too early to tell
George – i mentioned the rumours before, i dont think its true though.
It doesn’t seem very realistic seeing as he is hardly at the forefront of everyone’s minds here. I was under the impression that he had plenty of talent but an awful attitude.
J iv got to say this wbesite is 1 million times better than Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal Reserves and Youth Blog because you get the information 1st and always seems to be right so congrats on that
The talk of the interest from Barcelona was when he was 10-12. I dont have a clue where Barcelona would have seen him at that age, because Roy Massey and co like to keep them hidden away at Hale End.
Cheers Goonerguy :)
Why is that old news being regurgitated by Jeorge Bird then?
is rhys murphy more like michael owen or wayne rooney?
“is rhys murphy more like michael owen or wayne rooney?”
Nt really like either of them but i suppose hes a bit of a mixture of the two, goal grabber but good on the ball aswell, if he’ll ever be as good as either remains to be seen.
George – I think he was covering Sanchez Watt, and threw the speculation in to show how highly rated he is.
Many have compared him more to Alan Shearer with pace.
“Many have compared him more to Alan Shearer with pace.”
From what ive seen of him that makes sense. Still not sure if hes ahead of the game, Barazite is definatly ahead of him, Fonte has had a bad season overall but if he does well at Sporting he might still have a future, Sunu is highly rated by the coaching staff and he has potential, he just needs to become a bit more clinical infront of goal, Watt is superbly talented but whether his future is as a striker or more as a second-striker come winger i dont know, Freeman is very similar in my opinion and if he can step up he can give Murphy some real compatition and of course we have all the talented strikers breaking into the U18s from the U16s, if one of them show ore than expected they could find themselves fast tracked into reserve football like Emmanuel-Thomas and Wilshire have managed. But…he has a chance and if he can get back to his best he can still come out on top of the rest (bar Barazite whos by far the best reserve striker at the moment, but hes positionally different to Murphy so that might not be too much of a problem for him).
sorry, off topic,
i heard that nasri now holiday in cuba~~
is he has been described as strong, powerful and brave he surely must be like a wayne rooney, if he is then he must be special. anyway we need a powerful striker or two so he could be useful in the future along with giles sunu.
oh and speaking of strong powerful strikers, what do you lot make of the stronger link of martins coming to arsenal? he could be the perfect and even better replacement than adebayor.
One player I will definately like to see given a few games in the first team this season is Nacer Barazite, I like his footballing brain and very good technique. As for Merida, I really dont know what AW plans for him, Arsenal
I hope he can stay fit because English football needs young strikers like him coming through IMO
“oh and speaking of strong powerful strikers, what do you lot make of the stronger link of martins coming to arsenal? he could be the perfect and even better replacement than adebayor.”
Depends how much he’d cost, ive always liked him and i thought Inter were foolish to let him go, especially for 10mil, but he didnt have a great season for Newcastle last season, which is good in terms of price but not great looking in terms of being a prospect, but if any1 can get the best out of him its probably Wenger. Like i said thou, depends on price, and id prefere Villa, especially since he said that Arsenal would be his dream move as he loves our style of play.
Ade hasnt gone yet so there isnt much point speculating on who may replace him (not that im saying u shouldent talk about it), but he might still stay next season cuz im convinced all this pay rise talk is actually him just asking for a contract where hes in the top wage bracket (about 60k) cuz atm i think hes only on something like 40k…not that thats a small amount (personally i take 5k a week and donate 4k to a charity of my choice if i was a footballer), but i think all this 400% wage rise dmands, and wanting 160k a week stuff is bollocks, just media hype designed to raise interest.
BTW, J…do u know what happened to Georgios Efram? I know he left Arsenal for Cypress but i havent heard anything about him since and i cant find anything on the net, not even stuff about his time at Arsenal (not very much anyway), its almost like he never existed.
First post, great site, good job. Simple.
On a different note to the article, does anyone have further details on the young boy ‘Patrick’ form Brazil? Or has this now gone cold….
Regarding the pro-contracts signed by 6 players last week, (Lansbury, Thomas, Bartley, Murphy etc), is a 2 year pro deal standard length or do you know whether some of them received shorter or longer contracts?
is arsenal pre-season training begin on monday??
i can’t wait to see them back, although first team member won’t back.
do u know what player will participate in the first part training?
I believe they are all two year deals mate. After the two years they can get the deals extended like Merida.
Sometimes players just get long deals when they sign, like Mannone and Nordtveit.
J, do u know anything about how Georgios Efram is doing in football these days? We released him as an 18 yr old (i think) and he went to Cypress but i havent heard anything about him since, which amaizes me cuz he always looked like a decent player (not as good as the others in his position, hence not being offered pro-terms, but good none the less).
Cheers for that J.
Georgios Efrem? he finished with 5 goals for Cyprus in there attempts to qualify for the Under 19 Euro championships.
Banfield wanted him to stay, but Rangers offered him more first team chances, so he went there. I believe he is yet to play for them.
“but Rangers offered him more first team chances, so he went there. I believe he is yet to play for them.”
Oh, went to Rangers did he, didnt know that. Good to know he’s doin alrite thou cuz i always liked him (duno y).
England lost in the quarter-final of the World cup in Korea not the Semi’s.
They lost 4-1 to the Germans.
Kroos looked very impressive in that tournament.
He was really quick, and full of tricks. A sort of small version of Ronaldo.
cheers Doop!
Thank you very much Jamie for this wonderful site.
About Denilson, I think wenger rate him very high, and I believe he will be the future partner of Fabregas and this might be next season.
I have high hopes for Rhys murphy, jay thomas, sanchez watt, lansbury, kyle bartley, jack wilshere, randall and tom cruise. They are all english and england could be filled with all this talent in the future. I hope they all make it at arsenal but i doubt it
off topic but who is the player on the top right hand side of the screen next to jack wilshere
Nordtveit – Afobe – Wilshere – Evina
cheers j.
If you want a sriker who Rhys resembles then think of a young Dean Ashton with pace.
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