England Under 17’s coach John Peacock has named five Arsenal youngsters in his squad for forthcoming FA International Tournament later this month.
They include 16 year old midfielders Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong, along with defenders Sam Byles and Oliver Nicholas, and former Gillingham striker Luke Freeman. Young Gunners dominate the selection, with Manchester United boasting two (Ezekiel Fryers & Ryan Tunnicliffe) Tottenham one (John Bostock) with Chelsea and Liverpool having no players selected.
Wilshere’s inclusion comes as a surprise after his promotion to the first-team, but his involvement with players who are yet to even break into their clubs Reserves will surely keep his feet firmly on the ground. Frimpong has shown superb form on the international scene after bagging the winner against Germany and scoring in the penalty shootout as England won the Montaigu Tournament in March.
Many have also been surprised at Sam Byles inclusion in the squad with former Gunner Keanu Marsh-Brown putting in several impressive displays, but the Arsenal man has formed Keanu out of the squad and looks set to be first-choice.
The players will be missing from Wednesday 27th to Sunday 31st of August. You can view the full Match Schedule Here.
England have also raided Arsenal for more players, this time for the hugely successful Under 16 side.
Free-scoring striker Benik Afobe has been included following his star performances for the Gunners Under 16’s, and is joined by fellow team-mates Chuks Aneke and Ben Glasgow.
Aneke is a tall and leggy central midfielder – very much in the style of former skipper Patrick Vieira – and has featured on various occasions for the Lions youth team. Glasgow is an electric full-back who can also play at centre back and even in midfield, and is regarded as another promising youngster for the future.
As yet no further details have been released of the other squad members, or the tournament they will be participating in.
Article By – J.Sanderson
I thought Wilshere and Bostock played in the age group above?
How good is Nicholas compared to the likes of Bartley Nordtveit and Hoyte, do you think the could make the grade?
The next group is Under 19’s and they wont reach that stage just yet due to player congestion.
Nicholas is a very good young centre back, who we will see in the Under 18s this season. Too early to judge him yet as he is un tested at a good level.
This will be great experience for the youngsters. Hope that they all do well.
is Bostock better than our wilshere?
J sorry to change the subject but do you know if Nasri is in the squad for the Amsterdam tournament?
I don’t know, but i would presume so.
good article j. do you no if barazite and nordveit are travelling to amsterdam for the amsterdam cup.was looking forward to seeing more of them in pre season. am really surprised that nordveit hasent played much in pre season and as for barazite i would of expected him to be ahead of randall and lansbury.
Nasri and Diaby are out of the Ajax Tournament.
He’s not it’s on Arsenal.com
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=494976&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Wenger+-+Last+season%27s+pain+will+spur+us+to+title
Too bad I would have loved to see him play!
Nasri should be fit for Wednesday but Diaby out with thigh injury.
Fair enough, I was just wondering how bad his injury was when he pulled up in training on tuesday. Also how has freeman progressed since his move from Gillingham
Wow. This is just getting better and better. All of our youngsters are brilliant! Arsene Wenger has brought it and trained very good youngsters. Good for him getting selected!
All we need to do is keep these youngsters for a little bit longer for us to keep winning.
BTW – http://twisthis.blogspot.com
do you know anything about a player called Annan who is on trial this week?
He is from a club on Norway or Denmark, and he is from Africa.
Annan is close to signing for Blackburn, or at least that is what he has told Norwegian television.
He is a defensive midfielder, who plays for the league leaders in Norway, Stabaek. Originally from Ghana.
Reportedly, Essien urged Chelsea to sign him.
And Arsenal doesn’t produce English talent.
Honestly.
This is the damned proof that we need to prove that we do, in fact, produce the best English talent as well.
The 5 arsenal boys, jose baxter of everton, shevley of charlton who already made 1st team appeareance last season & Bostock from Spuds. I have seen the England U17s squad & they ought to qualify for the final stage of UEFA U17s championship, in fact if they qualify they along with spain will probably be favorites.
This legacy that Wenger is leaving us will continue long after he moves to the board room then retires from the club altogether. This style of football and academy workings will run and run long after the players and staff have changed and this is what will keep The Arsenal at the forefront of English football for years to come. Expect more kids of this quality to keep coming through.
Well I heard that Anthony Annan, who played for ghana in the africa cup of nations, and is currently on loan at Staebek in Norway from Start, is on trial at blackburn. Is he now having a trial with us. If so, good move Arsene because he’s touted as the next essien in ghana.
J. Who do you think will be in the Arsenal FA Youth Cup Team this season. Lots available but who will play?
This England squad seems to have some promising players.
It will be interesting to see how they do.
i think it means that our youth is better than other Big4 teams (except Spud..), and YES, we produce a lot of great local players (FCUK You, Blatter !!).
well, i would love to see Wilshere in this tournament..
This is exactly why the England set up is such a joke,Players with obvious massive potential like Wilshere should be fast tracked straight into the u21 set up to play against better players.Just look at Hoyte he was playing for the u21 side when he was 22 and racked up about 30 games for them when there was more promising players below him.Untill England use these tournament’s to develop the younger more promising players they will always be a joke.
TopiQue: But Spurs have bought any promising youngsters, not made them. And even then, are rubbish when it comes to playing them and still aren’t on the grand scale we are for development.
How old is Annan? Shouldn’t he be at the Olympics, or does his country not have a team there? It seems a bit mixed as well, has he already had his trial or is it currently happening?
Wilshere can’t be thrown in to the U21’s yet.
He’s only just arrived on the scene.
He probably wont be at this level for that long anyway if he keeps progressing the way he is.
The U21 team only have one competitive game left and have almost qualified whereas the U17’s have a tough task of qualifying as they are still to play a game in their group and have been drawn up against Spain. Estonia and Armenia too in their group.
Samuel: Ghana aren’t in the olympics football tournament and he’s 22
Wilshere has not just arrived on the scene though,You could tell from about a year ago he was the must promising English player at that age since Rooney.
Rooney still played U17 football when the coaches knew he was better than it.
Bojan of Spain won the tournament when he could have easily played at a higher level too.
It happens sometimes to rush a player into higher levels isn’t always good.
If Jack gets games for Arsenal this season he more than likely wont be in the U17 squad anyway.
Annan will most likely not have a trial, as Stabæk’s manager said he will start this weekends game in the Norwegian league. It is thought that scouts will be there though.
Harry: Ok, I just thought i’d ask. Thank you.
Wilshere should stick to his age level until he starts playing competetive football. He may be very talented, but I don’t care. Rushing Owen and Walcott through the system had massive repurcutions, and you could also argue it stagnated Rooney’s development. There is an accepted way the majority of players rise into the game that has been honed over the past 100 years. It’s obviously not perfect and every players development is different lets just let the professionals pick who they think is worthy.
I thought Arsenal did nothing to contribute to the England cause?
By my count, that is 8 players in two squads.
Samuel even though i agree with u in that players should not be rushed and should be allowed develop @ their own rate. However, Walcott wasnt rushed through he has played for U16s, U17s U19s U21s, Full international and his goal record @ U21s shows that.
As for Rooney, he simply went to the wrong club, imagine rooney learning off Bergkamp & playing handful of games for his 1st season with us. The training method @ arsenal, his attacking weapons will be much higher and he will be showing those weapons on a more consistent basis because as off now, only sometimes now does he shows wonderful imagination that makes me take notice.
As for Owen, He has lost the 2 things that made him the player he was [Pace & finishing] & now he is jsut an average player living on past suceess. He never had the key ingredient to suceeeding @ the highest level for a long period [quality movement, 1st touch & game understanding] meanng he is really to much on physical abilities than using brain.
It’s interesting that Wilshire and Bostock have been kept down with the u17s this season. They frigged up qualification for the Euros last year and we don’t want that to happen again. Although England are already well off for midfield players with future England star Jonjo Shelver and Frimpong.
The reason Keanu Marsh-Brown is not in this squad is because he played in the Nordic Tournament were as Sam Byles was not there but is included in this squad instead not that Marsh-Brown has anything to worry about because he is the better prospect out of the two of them IMO
Fair comment Ken up to a point. The Nordick tournament is just a try out really for fringe and dreg players.
I think that Wilshere should be playing in the under 21 team…..