Author: Staff Writer

Luke Freeman has been taken to hospital in Somerset for a scan on a suspected broken leg. The Arsenal striker started this third game of a season long loan spell with Yeovil Town today, but was taken off just before half time and rushed to hospital.

Freeman was victim of a horrible challenge from behind and manager Terry Skiverton was notably concerned about how the referee handled the fixture. Speaking to Town’s official website after the game, Skiverton said;

“There were a few tackles against us that were close to the mark and Luke (Freeman) has been caught on his shin.”

“He’s going for an X-ray. We think it could be a broken leg so we’re hoping that doesn’t prove to be the case.”

The Bristol Rovers defender was not booked for his tackle on Luke.

Update: Yeovil Town have confirmed Luke has not suffered a fracture to his leg, but he does face time out. More details on how long he faces out expected on Monday.

Arsenal’s preparations ahead of the new Premier Academy League season are firmly track. Steve Bould’s boys have concluded their pre-season with wins over Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic.

The Under 18’s are aiming for their third Academy League title in a row with a new look team. Joining a whole host of new scholars in the squad are summer acquisitions Kyle Ebecilio and Philip Roberts, while Emilio Damián Martínez has been granted a work permit and has finally linked up with his new employers.

The Gunners kicked off their pre-season with a slender 3-2 defeat to a Plymouth Argyle XI before thrashing Birmingham City 4-0. Jeffrey Monakana bagged a brace, Nigel Neita helped himself to one and trialist Serge Gnabry was also on target. A 1-0 win against Charlton this weekend courtesy of a Martin Angha strike has put Bould’s charges in excellent shape to defend their crown.

Arsenal kick off their Premier Academy League campaign next weekend with a trip to Manchester City.

Håvard Nordtveit’s participation in Sunday’s Premier League opener against Liverpool is in doubt after an administration error saw him wrongly taken out to Croatia for an Under 21 fixture with Norway.

Nordtveit had contacted the Norwegian Football Federation to request that he be excluded from this weeks Under 21 fixture with Croatia so he could concentrate on club matters. The 19-year-old is one of only three centre backs fit for Arsenal’s trip to Anfield, and is in contention to be on the bench.

However, the NFF went against Håvard’s wishes and demanded he travel with the team for two days of intense training in Croatia before playing against their Under 21 counterparts. It was only discovered a matter of hours before the game that Nordtveit was in fact suspended and ineligible to play.

The defender has returned to England but it’s now highly doubtful that he’ll be included, and if he is, he will be far from ready after missing the important build up. Tor Ole Skullerud has apologised to both Arsenal and the player for the mix up.

Back in 1992-1993 Alex Ferguson watched his United youth team reach the FA Youth Cup final for the second successive year. The Scot was left rubbing his hands as he realised that he had a set of youngsters with exceptional potential. They included Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Phil Neville who, over the following couple of seasons, were slowly blooded in to the first team. By the beginning of the 19951996 season all were commanding a starting place the United XI. “You can’t win anything with kids” barked Alan Hansen – the rest is history.

With Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Denilson and Ramsey all injured or struggling with match fitness, the centre of the park is looking a little thin for this weekend; step forward two young Englishman with the potential to be just as successful as Ferguson’s Academy propsects – Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong. With Wenger stating last week, “We were considering even maybe going on the market for a midfielder. We will not do that now.”, it is possible that come Sunday afternoon both Wilshere and Frimpong will be starting in the centre of midfield at Anfield; the first time Arsenal have fielded two Englishman in the centre of midfield in the Premier League for years.

The two starlets have been at the club since they were 9 and 11 respectively and are close companions on and off the pitch. They have a clear understanding of one another’s game, complementing each other well; with Wilshere’s finesse compared to Frimpong’s tough tackling, tenacity – it is a superb working relationship in midfield.

Wenger placed a lot of responsibility in the youngsters during this summers friendlies, starting both players in every game, and despite a fatigued performance against Legia Warsaw, Wilshere and Frimpong have certainly demonstrated that they have the ability to mix it with the best.

After Wilshere’s loan last year, the youngster is itching to get starts at Arsenal, and it is believed that he has made this clear to Wenger. Especially with the recent call up to the England squad in which he is expected to gain his first cap along with fellow gunner, Kieran Gibbs. However, Frimpong is yet to experience any premiership football, so Wenger may look to send him out on loan in the not too distant future, but until then, with most of Arsenals regular midfielders getting back to fitness it is expected that Frimpong will be there or thereabouts in the coming weeks. Perhaps the one disappointment is that if Frimpong was to follow in the footstaeps of Wilshere and gain international recognition it is likely the Ghanain born will follow his heart and opt for his home country, despite representing England at u16 and u17 level.

With other English youngsters aiming to compete for a first team place, including Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Henri Lansbury, Craig Eastmond and Kyle Bartley along with already established squad players Kieran Gibbs and TheoWalcott, it could be a real breakthrough for home grown talent this season, and a positive for Arsenal football club who have so often been ridiculed for its lack of home grown players.

The main success of United during the late 90s and early 00s was not just the ability of the English players but also the understanding they had of each other across the pitch, due to their years of familiarity with one another. Although it may be asking a lot for the current crop of English talent at Arsenal to compete with the success of the Fergie fledglings over the coming years, the 2010/11 season brings much promise as they look to take a step closer to becoming regulars in the Arsenal set up. Maybe we can dream, but who knows in a couple of years time there may be an English backbone at Arsenal, with Wilshere and Frimpong leading the charge this weekend.

Article By – Nick Love

England Under 19 coach Noel Blake has included Arsenal trio Emmanuel Frimpong, Benik Afobe and Nico Yennaris in his sqaud for their first friendly of the new season against Slovakia.

The squad makes interesting reading on a number of levels. All action holding midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong is included despite previously affirming his desire to represent Ghana, the country of his birth. Frimpong has represented the Young Lions at Under 16 and Under 17 level and has been advised to play for England by Arsène Wenger.

Elsewhere, seven members of last season’s Under 17 squad which won the European Championships are named. They include Benik Afobe, but there is no promotion for his striker partner and the much hyped Connor Wickham. Chuks Aneke surprisingly misses out but Arsenal Under 18 captain Nico Yennaris has been included.

Zak Ansah has replaced Afobe in the Under 17 squad.

Henri Lansbury was a second half substitute for England Under 21’s as they beat Uzbekistan 2-0 last night. Henri was surprisingly left on the bench as Everton’s Jack Rodwell took the holding midfield role. Lansbury should feature in the coming weeks as England face two Under 21 qualifiers.

In loanees news, Sanchez Watt played the full 90 minutes for Leeds United in the Carling Cup and he claimed two assists as The Whites sent Lincoln City packing. Watt set up the first two goals with great crosses. Luke Freeman was also in action for Yeovil Town who were also knocked out. Kyle Bartley played the final few minutes of Sheffield United’s tie at Hartlepool, but The Blades were comfortably beaten 2-0.

Nacer Barazite impressed the Rangers management and will stay in Glasgow training with the Scottish Champions for the next few weeks, according to a statement on their official website. Barazite was the best player on the pitch in the 2-1 defeat to Glentoran and admitted afterwards he would be keen to play his football at Ibrox next season.

Finally, a massive congratulations to Arsenal pair Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs who both made their full England debuts this evening. Gibbs and Wilshere were substitutes in the second half and both showed some nice touches as the Three Lions beat Hungary 2-1 at Wembley. The future looks very bright for the pair.

Arsène Wenger has promoted five Reserve team players to the first-team squad for the new season.

Emmanuel Frimpong joins last seasons loanees Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Henri Lansbury and Håvard Nordtveit in being named, while Craig Eastmond has now officially been included – although he was a part of the setup for the final part of last season. The news is also notable in terms of Wenger’s transfer plans, as Nordtveit was told earlier in the summer he would only be staying if the club failed to bring in another centre half after the transfer of Laurent Koscielny

The five-some are set to feature prominently in the Carling Cup campaign. However, Frimpong is in contention to make his Premier League debut at Anfield on Saturday. It’s not yet clear what part the new first-team players will play in the new 25 man rule, as they’re all under 21, and are eligible to count as over the limit.

Frimpong, Emmanuel-Thomas, Lansbury, Nordtveit and Eastmond are all poised to be allocated new squad numbers later this week.

Scottish Champions Rangers have taken Arsenal winger Nacer Barazite on trial with the view to a potential loan deal. The Dutch Under 21 international will play for the Gers in their friendly against Glentoran tonight.

Barazite has linked up with the squad in Belfast and trained with Ian Durrant’s Reserve team this morning. The Dutchman is surprisingly surplus to requirements at Arsenal and Liam Brady has moved to find the flyer a new club;

“We will have a young lad on trial for us called Nacer Barazite who comes to us from Arsenal and was highly recommended by Liam Brady and that will be a good opportunity for us and the Rangers fans in Belfast to have a look at him.”

Arsenal would accept Barazite going on loan for the season, although a straight cash deal would be preferred.

Samuel Galindo has agreed to join UD Salamanca on a season long loan from Arsenal, subject to a work visa. The deal to loan the 18-year-old was agreed last month, but only now have officials in the players camp gathered the necessary documents to complete the switch.

Galindo officially joined Arsenal on July 1st from Real America for a fee of £500,000, but an application for a UK work permit has been rejected. The Gunners initially offered Salamanca the chance to loan the skillful left winger in March after a successful trial, but changed their mind after former UDS chairman Miguel Torrecilla convinced official Richard Law to send the player to Celta Vigo.

However, Salamanca claimed they had a legal binding agreement for Galindo, so were given first option. They accepted and the player passed a medical last month. The club have been waiting on Samuel’s work visa application to go through, but manager Óscar Cano confirmed the end to the saga is in sight;

“I spoke with Richard Law and, in principle, the player can expect to have all the necessary papers to leave Bolivia by the end of the week.”

Galindo will go straight into the first-team on his arrival as UD Salamanca begin their preparations for the new Segunda season.