Arsenal are in talks with Luton Town winger Tarum Dawkins, Young Guns understands.
The exciting and versatile winger has been training with Steve Gatting’s Under 16’s this week, as the club look to tie up the formalities of his move. Chelsea were also keen to sign Dawkins, after running the rule over him at Cobham last week, but the player prefers a move to North London.
Tarum is a tall and skillful wideman, who boasts bags of power and pace. He is seen as one of Luton’s prized assets, and one they’ve tried to keep under wraps, by twice withdrawing him from England duty with the Under 17’s.
You can view a video of the 15-year-old in action here.
lol i live next door to that training ground!
Didn’t Wilshere start off at Luton?
Yes! We desperately need a 15-year-old winger.
Just because we need to sign a defender doesn’t mean we won’t sign player for the academy.
Gervinho’s Forehead is as wise as it is big.
Some good bits of play and a great goal but some bits not so great lol. But i’m sure the club has seen something in him.
Looks awful
Likes like an older Liam Brady
Thisn is cool news, There is definitely a real agenda to sign young British talent and they seem to be tall too! Yes!
People need to give him a break he is only young and obv needs to learn he aint gonna be world class yet is he lol
If he turns out half as good as our other ex-Luton boy Jack, he’ll be top signing.
Blimey, this Jack boy must be a top top wide player … :)
Wilshere used to play for Luton before he joined arsenal at the age of 9. They produce a lot of players down there most get picked up by other clubs. They currently have a dispute with Peterborough for supposedly tapping up players. At Luton they focus a lot on physicality I.e. Size, strength and speed when picking players. Another big talent who has taken from there relatively recently is dave moli at Liverpool plays for england u16s another giant. This guy looks to have great feet though and good technical ability crossing wise.
Pls tell wenger sell uncommited players. see d diff. Btw commited and uncom. Players in com. Shield
He doesn’t look very graceful, but then he’s a gangly 15 year old still growing into his body. I think you have to use your imagination a little bit with a kid like that. If he’s tall, quick and skillful he’s worth a shot; bring him to the club, playing with better players, improve his technique and decision-making, let him fill out…
He could be t’rific!
Apparently he tweeted “looks like im sticking with arsenal” earlier today. Great prospect
Guys don´t forget about Matthew Upson, another quality prospect from Luton.
But on a more serious note, he looks like a good prospect and if he signs i hope he will do well.
looks like he already is an Arsenal player judging by his facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002378732108
thank you he is really comminted when he was at luton it was to easy for him and atleast at arsenal he has competition just let my cousin do his thing
I got released by Millwall and Wimbledon both when I was around that age and i’m pretty sure I weren’t that poor. But hey, i’m not a scout!
your attitude still stinks.
If this guy works really hard, puts his head down into it, doesn’t take up the party life style then he may very well become the new Jamie Edge.
Jamie Edge..seriously?
No. I just wasn’t good enough. I’m an Arsenal fan ultimately so of course I want the kid to do well. Good luck son!
Good physique for a 15 year old, we need less midgets at Arsenal in the future. We seem to be addressing it with players like Galindo though
Yeah those midgets like cesc fabregas and wilshere aint got nothing compared to this kid
You know what I meant! cos Gilberto, Vieira, Henry and Pires won us PL’s and we’ve had in recent years Hleb’s, Flamini’s, Fabreagas’ and won nothing yet so I’m saying maybe having height in the future could help us.
Was it just me who thought the video looked like Gulliver had arrived at island of Liliput? He looked huge against those kids.
Looks decent but not great, he gave away the ball quite a lot but he’s only 15 so he’s far from the finished article. The scouts got it wrong with jamie edge so lets hope he turns out to be a success
You sure that’s not Diaby… or at least his un-injured brother o_O?
:-D LOL
Not a great advert for english youth, and im not talking about the player, from that video it looked like one big scramble for the ball, like kick and rush in a school play ground. Credit where credits due though i think there was a 1-2 at about 3:30. Seriously though are they really being properly educated? there didnt look like much order or intelligence on that pitch
Woohoo another one of the Luton lads! Dave Moli, you might know him, signed for Liverpool I think, me and him used to play football in the park together! Only a matter off time before you hear Arsenal have signed me!
He is far too old to play for Arsenal.
what is even wrong with Wenger we dont need 16yrs old player for now. Our defence is just like an empty post no creative midfielder since is very obvious that cesc.
Well if he looks like Brady he stands every chance! The type of players that do well at Arsenal are Brady look-a-likes.
On a more serious note: what is seriously lacking at Arsenal is the development between the Reserves and First Team, we are always having to make a raids on other clubs for their “wonderkids”. We watch our home grown talents develop through the academy then we make a raid on other clubs which pushes our own backwards.
This sends out a bad message about Arsenal’s Development Ptogramme. It comes back down to coaching and coaches.
Excuse the typing error: Programme
get your blinkers off stupid
@ OMOTAYO get dem blinkers off you are so shortsighted
Nice! I love new signings.. I check your blog everyday, you’re doing great work to keeping us up to date RESPECT!
btw. I know this isn’t relevant, but loosing Nasri to ManCity would be a disaster, I would ask Inter if they would be willing to swap Snejder for Nasri + cash ..
Just some observations:
1. The reserve/youth budget is different from that of the 1st team . So people need to stop questioning the acqisitions of young players on account of lack of expected/desired 1st team signings.
2. Regardless of what defender we sign for the 1st team we probably will still be relatively poor as a team, defensively. It’s because of the coaching, training and tactics. Our defense isn’t bad because of talent. I mean, what’s with the zonal marking on set pieces? And the offside traps? Forget about it. The high defensive lines? The lack of hustle, bustle, covering each other’s backs, and tracking back? Don’t even think about it. Even Vidic, Terry et al would look ordinary in our system.
3. We need to be more ruthless in front of goal. We don’t convert the amount of chances our build-ups deserve. This is why we drop points, not the defensive blunders (although they are a contributing factor). The bottom line is that we are an attacking team, not a defensive one. Barcelona don’t have better defenders than us. But their entire team works hard on atrack and defense.
Sorry to go off topic but regarding the imminent departures of Cesc & Samir I wondered if I was alone with these thoughts?
I think we’re all in agreement that this summer has been an absolute shambles (up until this point)
I seriously believe Wenger, Gazidis and Stan have until the 31st of August to salvage anything from this, including the vital backing of the fans. By the end of August we will have had 3 league games under our belt and know how we stand on the European front. If the results haven’t gone our way (god, allah, vishnu, Bergkamp forbid) AND we haven’t seen the required standard of re-investment that is evident for everyone to see then i’m sorry but those guys and the board WILL have a revolt on their hands.
Arsenal FC is our club, not the hierarchy’s money making play toy. We have to stand up and do what is right for our club. It doesn’t need Steve Jobs to work out that being profitable and successful on the pitch are not exclusively separate yet the perfect synergy of a business model.
Forever Arsenal.
Another person thinking Arsenal is a video game lol. Without Wenger there would be no player like Nasri or Fabregas at Arsenal to lose. They sure in the hell are not here for our fantastic (I mean shity) fans. Man City are going to give him most likely close to 200k a week. Can we compete with that? No and is it anyones fault? no. At this point, we just need to be realistic and sell him for the 20 million and bring in someone else.
Thats not right on luton they also been struggling with finances hope they are rewarded with a hefty compensation
Llewellyn>
I think you’re an idiot, if you behave that way. The one thing we can be absolutely certain of is that Wenger and the board will act in the long-term best interests of the club. I very much doubt any such situation will come to pass, but if it does, then it’ll be because it’s the best thing we can hope for.
If I saw the board squandering the benefits of years of sensible accumulation on a knee-jerk splurge, then I’d protest.
Thank you. If we saw the same low spending after the stadium is payed off then yes us true fans would say something but some of these people have no common sense.
Don’t forget cauley woodrow too, kid bagged 6 goals in an fa youth cup prelim, alerted a load of prem clubs and went to fulham, great future prospect. features in the england u17 set up. there’s also curtis davies, matty taylor etc…
you lot think he is gunna be the best in the world already he is only going into year11 , he is my cousin i played at luton as well and i am still there but i am only 13 , for his age he is really good and i dont care what you lot think tbh
This kid has his head on a swivel. I like how, just like Jack and Cesc, he is always scanning the space around him even though his teammate has yet to pass him the ball. Shows that this kid might already have a good grasp of positioning and use of space. Arsenal can always sharpen his physical skills, but the mental aspect sometimes just can’t be force-fed.
Dave
That’s your opinion. I’m not gonna start calling you an idiot for it because i’m open minded and unlike you, quite clearly not a child.
Anyway, i’m not saying the board have to go and spend hundreds of millions. Simply reinvest wisely with what we receive in transfer fee’s. Gazidis is delirious if he thinks selling two of our best players the season before major sponsorship deals expire is a good piece of business. How long has he been here now and what has he done. Transfers are painfully slow and our valuable assets are going for half the market price or worse, aren’t tied down to contracts in their prime and allowed to leave for free. If you think they’re doing business well then you must be one of those guys who buys a fence off his next door neighbor.
Nothing pleases me more then the youtube scouts. Watch one youtube video and then give your opinion on a player. Anyways, welcome to the kid and good luck mate.
Llewellyn>
You’re entitled to air any opinion you like, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be idiotic opinions to hold. If your opinion is based on factual inaccuracies, or is internally inconsistent, then they’re just plain stupid.
In your case, the opinions are both inaccurate and inconsistent. The things you say have happened… haven’t. You’ve contradicted yourself between your two posts.
Yes, you’re an idiot. You don’t deserve what Wenger’s done for us.
There’s definitely glimpses of talent from the lad in that vid, i’d say enough to at least afford him a chance at developing at a top flight football club, with no disrespect to Luton..
Hartson, Upson, Wilshere and now this young lad – why can’t premier league clubs develop their own youth talent. Teamsnlike Luton spend years and money on these young prospects and they are more than happy to stay until they get their heads turned by bigger clubs. As for Moli we are still in very heated negotiations over his move to Liverpool as his father was tapped up by them (they bought a house for the family). Luckily the FA have now stepped in and are now monitoring our situation as we are the leading club outside of the premier league producing top youth players. Because of this Dawkins will not come cheap in the long run with lots of add on clauses which will benefit us as we developed the player. But good luck to the lad.
I understand all small clubs frustration trust me. The fact is that big clubs develop tons of talents that would be stars at Luton. The problem is you need only the best talents to compete at the top level so of course, all of them are not going to come in as 9 year olds. Luton would do the same thing if they were a top club.
Shane wrote “Luton would do the same thing if they were a top club.” Yeah, and if your mum had bollocks she’d be your dad! Stop trying to justify a rich EPL club stealing young players from a smaller club with self-serving rubbish like that.
Luckily I believe that the FA have just ruled that Luton will receive compensation for any Youth players signed by other clubs so hopefully you’ll have to pay a fair fee for him. It’s not as if you’re short of a bob.
Players dream of opportunities like this. thats why they play football. Then stupid idiots like you come and say that they should stay in a crap team that does NOt make you a better player. If the player himself wants to go then he wants to go. EPL teams don’t steal players they buy players. If the player don’t want to come he will stay. Thats how easy it works.
Wow mate lol. Because you deny fact that makes me wrong? You honestly are saying that if Luton were a premier league club then they would not try and improve their team but just stick with the same crappy players? Yah that logic is pure genius. I said I feel your pain but be realistic mate. It only makes sense that as kids, their parents would want them to be in the best academy possible the same way they would want them to attend the best schools. What you need to do is focus on landing talented players that did not make the cut for the first team at big clubs and you can build from there. Obviously Luton on a smaller scale but look at Scott Sinclair and Adel Taraabt. 1 went for 500k and 1 for a million and look at their values now.
By the way, you are the same as the Southampton guy that was on here a while ago. You develop 4 or 5 good talents and then act like you have developed hundreds of premier league talents which is ridiculous. As I said, look at the players Arsenal have developed. A lot of them would be stars at your club. Hell didn’t Jay Simpson win the league 1 player of the year….
seeing this guy play football and as arsenal are on the verge of signing himmakes me want to push myself further in the pursuit of coming a proffessional footballer. the standard of football their playing at is absolutely shocking and england wonder why they dont win world cups, im 15 and my school football is far more advance than this this player is fairly average
Tom,
If you keep the faith, believe in yourself, make some difficult choices (especially socially), work hard and surround yourself with people who want you to succeed, then you’ll have an excellent chance to make it. It doesn’t have to be football though. This advice is applicable to any career or dream.
Good luck!
I think a lot of people have no clue about football or youth player development. At age 15, there is A LOT that can be done to imprive a player technically – its totally different to having bad technique at age 21 with habits fully formed.
So if you find a 15 year old attacker who is well over six foot, left footed, fast and has decent potential, YES he is a great project to take on – with near-unlimited upside and little downside.
Give him a few years :)
A lot of people do not understand what wenger has done for this club. Prior to 96 we were a low budget team…. couldnt afford top talent but Man Utd were head, shoulder and genitals above us in the financial aspect of things as was newcastle and liverpool…. we have built and put in place a lot of things so as to one day be able to say to any player we want that yes we can afford your wages and play the type of soccer you like. The self sustaining model is not complete but is getting there but we all want to jump ship without thinking…. do you really think for a second that if wenger had all the money that could change everything around by buying players he would like to lay down for 6 years and get punished like a bad child after winning it twice in the three years prior? I highly doubt that. for 15 straight years he has brought in at list 20 mill per through champions league revenue…. money we didnt know existed bfore he came… thats 300 mil. Not counting raising a squad that competes and gets us to this champions league with next to peanuts… its no wonder he is the coach of the decade because aston villa, everton and even man utd and liverpool have all tried this self sustaining model and their youth systems rarely bear fruit… not counting the beckham, scholes giggs group. We dont have sugar dads like city or chelsea or media and marketability cash flow like man utd or liverpool but we are still mixing it up and giving a good account. I have been told to know your future is to understand my past and looking at where arsenal has come from i say give him a break. do you think if fergie had a five year drought they would fire him? its two different scenarios but they both made their teams greater than they ever were. I believe the first thing we win would open the flood gates. Our players are just too easily swayed by the pastures accross the fence. I am for certain that cesc and nasri leaving in a weird way would be the begin of a trying period for arsenal but that first trophy would taste even better…. Fire those Cannons!
Get at them mate…..lol.
Look accross the board at all the big teams…. Madrid and Barca are basically state sponsored teams…. they are in astronomical debts but still sign great players. Yes they have marketable income but it is heavily supplemented by government incentives. This topic is in their media consistently radio and papers like El Mundo and fodder on some websites… how do you compete with that. So not all that glitters is gold…. we are just really horrible supporters i must be honest. i mean there are team that used to compete for the premier league and i mean compete for the top like newcastle, Leeds, westham and villa whose fans now have more modest assessments of what they consider an acheivement… you could join them…. of course we aspire to win everything like every real fan but its not justification to hang the coach.
Has Lansbury switched his number to 32?
Also online shopping are showing Frimpong 26 and Chamberlain 15.
Still no sign of numbers for Gervinho and Miyaichi, i hear they are both after no.8?
Gervinho is now on there at 27 (no eboue) and miyaich is 31
something really fishy going on
the article on Arsenal.com unveiling the squad numbers has been deleted
i hear that we are after byron lawrence a 15 year old from ipswich any truth in this jamie? he was called up to their senior squad 4 the carling cup game
Just checked out those squad numbers, and to be honest that 1st team squad has me utterly bemused.. At least 4 names that shouldn’t still be there, with no as yet discernible improvement.. I don’t see us challenging for anything this season, unfortunately.. :-(
Dave
You’re obviously not getting where i’m coming from. All i’m saying is Arsenal fans should demand the highest standard in everything the club does otherwise a culture of settling for second best will never get us to where we deserve to be. My comments are far from contradictory, read them again and think about ’em before making your next post.
TARUM PLAYED FOR THE UNDER 16S TODAY AND SCORED, THEY BEAT CHELSEA UNDER 16S 4-1.
Good luck to him i hear Josh Vickers was world class again Arsenal need to ensure they keep this lad he has a bright future.about time he got his england call up
Shane you reckon that “It only makes sense that as kids, their parents would want them to be in the best academy possible”
According to the Premier League Luton’s academy produces more EPL player’s than Arsenal’s does:
http://www.imscouting.com/global-news-article/Scouting-and-Youth-Development-Luton-Town/11867/
But hey, Arsenal’s academy is really good at pinching players from other clubs, Wilshere and Fabregas to name but two. Keep up the good work.