Highly rated Arsenal midfielder Conor Henderson has been added to the Republic Of Ireland Under 19 squad for next week’s inaugural Under 19 four nations international tournament.
Henderson – still only 16 – signed scholarship terms with the Gunners during the summer, and although he is yet to even hold down a regular place in Steve Bould’s Under 18’s, has earned recognition for his performances at the back end of last season.
Conor has represented both England at Ireland at Under 16 level, but decided to switch to the country of his descent last year. Following an injury Celtic’s Laurence Gaughan, coach Sean McCaffrey has added the 6 foot play-maker, who will add class and style to the midfield if selected.
Many at Hale End regard the Londoner as a exciting prospect, known for his pin-point passing and versatility, and with Liam Brady now helping over see the development of Ireland’s young stars, Conor has seen his stock rise quickly.
After making a handful of appearances for the Under 18’s last year, a much deserved strike against Millwall saw him hit the headlines, and Henderson is set to become a more prominent figure during the new season.
Ireland host the competition, and are joined by Portugal, Spain and the Ukraine for the 4 day event. The Green army open their campaign against Portugal tomorrow evening, before a game against Spain on Tuesday. They wrap up the tournament versus Ukraine on Thursday, meaning the Arsenal youngster will be back in time for Saturday’s Academy League kick off.
Should you live in Ireland and you wish to support Conor or the team, ticket information is available Here.
Check out more details on Henderson in his newly updated Player Profile.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Good luck to the lad, he’s obviously very highly-rated to have been included in the squad at search a young age.
Impressive for such a young boy, that he is already at Under 19 level despite being just 16.
Good comment chris :)
A 6 foot playmaker? Wow. Is he built like a beanpole or a beast?
Bugduv on verge of being signed by Arsenal
BALTI,MOLDOVA (AP) The top sports daily in Balti, Moldova, Diario Mo Thon reported Saturday night that teenage football sensation Masal “Massi” Bugduv is in London (Saturday) with a view towards signing for leading Premiership team Arsenal.
Bugduv left Moldova at 1400GMT Saturday in the company of his agent and mentor Sergei Yulikov and flew to London via Budapest. Sources at his club Olimpia say the teenage hotshot has played his last game for the club and may be unveiled at Arsenal’s training ground on Monday afternoon, pending the successful completion of a rigorous medical investigation on Sunday.
Bugduv has been described as one of the most exciting young footballers to come out of Moldovan football and made his full international debut in May aged just 16 years and 44 days when he came out as a substitute versus Armenia. He set up the equalising goal in a 2-2 tie. (AP)
ishmael miller is a beast man, no one else just him. loool i was scared yesterday of his ability and power, he made bendtner adebayor and djourou lok small. :O
gooner chris can i post an article on your site?
oh has anyone heard of or played for a team called southall rangers?
Sure, e-mail me and I’ll get back to you.
Well with the likes of Jack Wilshere and John Bostock a head of him in the England pecking order i can understand Connor Hendersons decision
IG – He is tall and skinny rather than a beast, very elegant player.
Wow, that Bugduv kid looks really good. I guess we will see in the next 24 hours if we will sign him. I hear that AZ Alkmaar are also fighting for his signature. Making an international debut and grabbing an assist when you just turned 16 is a big accomplishment, even if it´s for Moldavia. If we get him we will have a good collection of promising ’92 models: Wilshere, Miguel, Ozyakup and maybe this guy.
Well whether or not Bostock and Wilshire were ahead of him for the England U17 places, getting into the U19 irish squad as a 16 year old is impressive to say the least. They obviously rate him very highly since hes still playing U18 football for Arsenal (hopefully he’ll make his reserve debut this season thou), so i doubt hes ever played against a 19 year old in a competative match.
Havent seen him play much personally, not enough to really build a solid opinion of him. Good close range distribution is the only thing i can rly remember about him from the little ive seen of him. Still, exiting news and hopefully its a sign of him being a player of quality above his age.
The Bugduv article is from July of this year.
is he a defensive midfielder or an attacking one?
Good for the lad, but if makes the grade, we would want him qualified for England, in case the silly quota system does actually comes to pass.
I’m irish, and I’ve heard whispers about Henderson being pretty decent. Although honestly lads, our u19’s aren’t the best at the moment.
JS, can you confirm the Nortveidt to Salamanca story? And if its true, what do you make of it? Has to be better then another year in the reserves surely???
Nordtveit has been confirmed on Salamancas homepage, I would guess it is correct then!
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.udsalamanca.net%2Fcmsa%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D398%26Itemid%3D1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=es&tl=en
http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2008/08/18/543945.html
English:
Arsenal youngster Håvard(Haavard) Nordtveit will be rented to Salamanca in Spanish 2nd division. The center back, that came to Arsenal from Haugesund last years can get his first match for the season against Alaves 31. August.
Initially it will only last until New Year, confirms Nordtveit’s agent Jim Solbakken to TV2 Sport (Norwegian TV channel).
The Norwegian U21-player will be rented out so that he will get more playing time at a higher level. Arsenal has a cooperation with Salamance and has formerly rented out players like Carlos Vela and Pedro Botelho to the club.
(just translated freely, fast).
Use the translation if you want to :)
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=528743
Mostly the same, but with a another quote from his agent:
“It’s a normal action from Arsene Wenger, to loan out younger players before they return to Arsenal.”
And a pretty good picture.
peterE yer forgot to mention that Wenger himself wanted to do it, that NOrdtveit is excited about it, that he will travel down during the week, and that the loan might be extended if both parties agree.
Henderson seems okay but it will be more ambitious to play for england but maybe he is more patriotic now.
RE:’gooner chris can i post an article on your site?’ if u want to write for my site it’s okay too. (www.arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com)
Not a bad choice by any means, Ireland has a very strong good team imo, and a lot easier to get a cap there than in the England squad.
About Nordtveit, I hope he doesn’t end up sitting on the bench like Pedro was forced to for most of last season (although an injury hindered his progress).
It’d be great if they could both play week in week out together for Salamanca.
wats goin on wid Bugduv sanderson?
why don’t you write about havard nordveit who was loaned today to salamanca
Moldovan sensation Bugduv to be loaned to Irish club Cork City
BALTI, MOLDOVA (AP) The top sports daily in Balti, Moldova is reporting Tuesday night that Moldovan teenage sensation Masal ‘Massi’ Bagduv is in London with a view to signing for a leading English football club, with Reading FC being named as the most likely destination.
If signed, it is believed that the teenage international who is now out of contract at Olimpia Tirol will be loaned to Irish Club Cork City for the remainder of the Irish domestic football season and will return to play for Reading in mid-winter.
The deal is believed to be part of the plans by Reading to sell Ireland striker Kevin Doyle and to purchase Cork striker David Mooney.
“Massi is a player of great and enormous potential who will bring wins to what ever club he plays for. Already this year he has caught the interest of Arsenal FC manager Wenger and Zenit St Petersburg, but he wants to play in English football and our plan is to gradually introduce him to this” said his agent and mentor Sergei Yulikov last night.
“I cannot comment on the Reading situation and the link with the Irish club City of Cork FC,”bit if it means that Massi will be playing in England this season 08-09, it can only be good for him.
Bugduv left Moldova at 0700 GMT Tuesday in the company of Yulikov and flew to London via Budapest, where it is believed he has met with officials of Reading FC.
Masal Bugduv has been described as one of the most exciting young footballers to come out of Moldocan football.
Born on April 14, 1992, he shot to fame playing for his native FC Olimpia Bălţi for whom he scored a hattrick on his competitive debut in an Adzi Cup match in December 2007.
Bagduv became the youngest player capped at that level by his country and he went on to make his senior international debut aged just 16 years and 44 days when he came on for the national team in their 2-2 draw with Armenia in a friendly international in Tiraspol on May 28.
Trailing 2-1 with just ten minutes left, Moldova seemed set to lose until Bagduv lost his marker on the left wing, shimmied inside two defenders and fired in a shot that could only be parried by Armenian keeper Racif into the path of onrushing Igor Bugaev who equalised. (AP)