On Tuesday night, against Fulham Reserves on a cold, blustery and miserable winters night, Neil Banfield unleashed one of Arsenal’s most exciting hidden gems. A player the club have tried to keep hidden from the spotlight, quietly confident they have another outstanding prospect on their hands. After just 65 minutes, the secret was out. Chukwuemeka Aneke is a player to watch out for.
Hailing from Forest Gate, East London, but of Nigerian decent, ‘Chuks’ Aneke has been making small yet significant waves at youth level in a similar way to that of a certain Jack Wilshere. A tall, powerful, rangy central midfielder, to look at, Aneke is a big, physical battering ram. Yet beneath his appearance, lys an elegant, composed and technically gifted box-to-box attacker.
Aneke’s first season as a scholar is going well. Three Under 18 goals and numerous assists proves he can cut the mustard in the quick, competitive world of Academy league football. Last season’s Under 16 captain played out the dying embers of last years campaign with Steve Bould’s outfit, and he shone.
Already well over the 6 foot mark and still growing, many have argued that his physical nature gives him the age against similar aged players. So therefore when faced with seasoned internationals Kagisho Dikgacoi and Andranik Teymourian on Tuesday evening, he would fail to dominate, right? wrong. Chuks used his nifty feet to jink beyond Iranian Teymourian, then his power to bully Dikgacoi. After 65 minutes the pace got to him, but after almost unlocking Fulham three times with some superb vision, his talent was there for all to see.
The 16-year-old is set to be one of the driving forces in Arsenal’s bid to retain both the F.A Youth Cup and Academy League titles in the coming months. Expect the midfielder, named by Arsène Wenger as ‘technically perfect’, to be one of the driving influences.
Article By – J.Sanderson
I only watched the 1st half but Aneke’s vision and thru balls was excellent.
What was the score?
Fulham won the game, 1-0.
Match Report – http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/fulham-1-0-arsenal-reserves-match-report/
Who do people rate for the future of Arsenal as ‘fantastic’ talents who can become great? Aneke, Afobe, Ansah, Ozyakup, Coquelin, Bartley seem to be ones I really hope make it HUGE due to their potential.
Also Freeman, Deacon, Watt, Henderson look like they could develop into good players.
In current squad Ramsey, Gibbs, Merida and Wilshere are the ones who seem to be destined to integrate themselves into first team sooner rather than later.
Anyone else to look out for that can really make an impression in the coming years (and I mean big strides)?
Sorry, forgot Lansbury who has become very good in international games. I think he is currently in 2nd category. Really love his style actually as an all rounder and hope he makes it.
How about Vela Don? I think he will be one of the best striker in the future..
Similar to Diaby? Or does he have a little bit more impetus?
TomMusso – More vision and passing accuracy to Diaby. It would seem he has a better ‘footballing brain’ to Diaby too right now although that’s not conclusive.
Well that would be promising then!
He’s class mate. The player that excites me the most with the current under 18’s batch. Plays with a maturity beyond his years. AW should be a fan of the lad. I think he’ll feature next pre-season if fit and healthy and may even feature in the CC next year. Fantastic prospect.
Chuks is going to be gr8!
Its always nice to have another talented youngster coming through the academy, how high do u rate J? How good is he compare to JET? Can he be a Yaya Toure type of player? If he can, maybe JET should be prepared as our future lone striker! That way, we can have a very good 4-3-3 formation in the next 3 or 4 years. We could play a similiar 4-3-3 system with the one that Barca playing these days..
Walcott JET Vela Henry Ibra Messi
Wilshere Ramsey Iniesta Xavi
Aneke Toure
Gibbs Gilbert Abidal Alves
Vermaelen Bartley Puyol Pique
This site is great, but boy do we get ahead of ourselves fantasizing about formations that are 6-7 years down the road. Are we bored so quickly in this day and age?! Once our enthusiasm wears thin for this crop of youngsters (long before they win anything with the first team!), will we be reduced to spying on grammar school playgrounds?
J.,
Obviously the gifted Aneke is young enough to continue with the U-18’s next season, but do you know if Afobe, Freeman, boateng, and Ozyakup will be young enough to play at U-18 level next season too?
I see a young Vieira in him.
Chucks Aneke is hardly a secret because i bet that most of the top clubs know who are the best 9/10 year olds up and down the country are
Nothing new about Wellington, Zezinho and others?
Ha, I just finished the FM10 demo,
Players like Aneke are still in the make or break part of their career,
But he seems to be doing well 4 us
@ Kentpaul
Obviously he mean secret for the big audiance. I watch Arsenal first team regularly and follow fotball quite much but have never seen Aneke play before becouse I don’t have ArsenalTV. Most of my friends who is a hardcore Arsenal fan don’t know who he is either.
I really hope he becomes a great star for us. I have seen Henderson play a couple of times and he looked so much class. If Aneke is better than Henderson like many seems to think then he must be very very special becouse I rate Henderson one for the future, truly a fantastic talent.
Jom is correct, Kenty. Many people, who even read this blog on a regular basis, might not be aware of Chuks and how good he is and can be. You’re a regular follower of youth throughout the country but you’re only among a select few.
i’ve been thinking recently that diaby would make a good centre forward in our 4-3-3 formation. he seems to lack the defensive discipline to ever become a top central midfielder but he’s got all the attributes of a top CF – great first touch, tricky feet, creativity, vision, size and the boy has shown us that he can finish too when he gets chances. i really think he’d be a handful for any CB and would be a good focal point in the system we are playing this season, especially with all the injuries and lack of form we are suffering in that position. still holding out hope that we can find some way of getting the most out of his talent…
would love to see henderson make the grade too. has been too long since we had some good irish in the gooners squad! what do people think who have seen him play?
great website btw! one of my fave arsenal sites due to the original content and intelligent comments…
j arent you going to give us an update on wellington or zezinho? It seems to have gone quiet on that front.
arent there any tall strikers coming through.
is sunu a tall striker with lots of presence.
hey J, how about zezinho and wellington? any news on wether they are deffo coming
Whats happened to jamie Edge? Havent heard from him since he moved from Cheltenham
great website btw! one of my fave arsenal sites due to the original content and intelligent comments…
Andy said this on December 11, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I really like the website too, but intelligent comments?! Let’s not kid ourselves. Some poeople here seem to have a rational viewpoint, TJ DA GOON being one of them, but the majority of them are just clueless. Just take a look at this page of comments. Someone is comparing Arsenal’s youth squad to Barcelona, and half of the visitors to this site seem to request that J gives an hourly update on the lives of two Brazillian teenagers. Now, I don’t know Mr Sanderson personally, so I may be wrong, but I suspect that he isn’t the father of two young Brazillian footballers, and I doubt he’s on texting terms with them, so can’t people just let the news filter through. Oh, and just because an Arsenal midfielder is tall and black doesn’t mean he’s the ‘new Vieira’. Diaby clearly isn’t, and Aneke won’t be. I personally think Chuks is more in the Diaby mould, but, as pointed out earlier, seems to have more composure when passing the ball.
PS: Comments wittily declaring that this comment doesn’t fit the bill of ‘intelligence’ and is thus hypocritical will only serve to strengthen my point, so don’t bother making them.
Doing well 4 the u16/18 i heard
I say the same as john, what the hell has happened to Jamie Edge? He must be out injured because I remember him getting rave reviews and then nothing for the last few months.
Henderson is a good player, great left foot. I don’t think he’ll make it though, the competition for the CM spot is incredibly hard (Fabregas song Ramsey Coquelin Frimpong Wilshere Jay Thomas Lansbury etc)
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/389253236?-11203
Am I the only person who thinks Diaby should play in the striker role with Arshavin playing just off him? To me, Diaby is tall, strong and is the most underrated finisher at Arsenal…
Come on Arsene, you know it makes sense…!!!
I think Henderson is one that might surprise actually. I remember there was a lot of hype about him until he got all those injuries and it seems to have died down. But I think he’s a very talented player and when he grows older and gets some meat on his bones he could very well break into the squad as long as he works hard.
Guys like Aneke (who I rate highly and I DO feel is more Vieira than Diaby) and Afobe have the physical advantage at this level, but that evens out more when the players get older.
zack i totally agree with you, im a regular on this site and some of the comments are very ambitious, there has only been one vieira and to find another one is very difficult, diaby was touted as one but hes clearly not, that comment previous about diaby playing as CF, i disagree, he can barely do his own job in midfield, he is lazy and very slack in posession
i think it will not be long before u will see african teams
dominating international football, players like aneke,afobe,etc..
have an advantge at u-18 level with thier phisical and athletic gifts but r technically superb, can u imagine an african team
wid 11 technically,mentaly,tacticly disciplined monsters now that would be something scary… sorry 4 d bad spelling
aneke and afobe are english u ignorant willy
i’m also pretty certain that africa isn’t 1 country. great so this fella of nigerian heritige is big and technically brilliant- that’s really going to make mozambiques team hard to beat!
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i think the guy meant african football in general..and to be fair im sure afobe and aneke can choose to play for whichever african nation their background is from so sly has a point!
i also agree that diaby is extremely competent in front of goal but i think he lacks other basic needs for a striker..ie workrate,intelligent runs ect maybe a alternative? he is similar to berbatov in his style but our game doesnt suit that type of player
Ramsay is a top top player…IMO
cheers
Thanks dog you no wot im trying 2 get at