Nwakali’s loan next step in something grand

Arsenal’s mass of youth midfield talent is starting to create a vivid image of the future we have to look forward to. Kelechi Nwakali’s loan is one further step.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to Arsene Wenger’s collection of young talents at Arsenal, you may have missed the vivid picture they are creating of the future. Granted, it’s only the future of the midfield, it is still quite the start to what could be a very prolific midfield squad.

We have always enjoyed a very talented Arsenal midfield, albeit that talent has recently excluded the enforcer-type midfielder. But still, with a midfield populated by the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, there is always cause to expect the world.

Wenger has been preparing this squad of his of a future that involves the same level of midfield domination. With a superb collection already in North London, he went out and landed U17 World Cup winner, Kelechi Nwakali.

The young Nigerian took home the most valuable player award of the tournament and as such, there was quite the clamour to sign him up. That deal was finally completed in the summer and now, he has officially completed his loan move to MVV Maastricht.

This is a big deal, to get Nwakali some first team experience, especially when considering how quickly Kelechi Iheanacho was able to latch on in Manchester City. Nothing is a guarantee, but we are soon to find out what we can expect from our own version of Super Eagle greatness (added greatness*… sorry Iwobi).

Assuming that Nwakali can catch on, we can start figuring out what the future of this midfield looks like. Everything is written in pencil, but the three that I am penciling in are a fantastic starting point because it could amount to a midfield of Mesut Ozil, Robert Pires and Yaya Toure. Intrigued? So am I.

First, we can pencil in Jeff Reine-Adelaide wide right. The talented young Frenchman has a new mentor in Robert Pires and given the confidence that he exudes every time he takes the pitch, we have no reason to doubt his future prospects.

Assuming we use a No. 10, Gedion Zelalem can be thrown into that spot. He has shown similar characteristics to Mesut Ozil already, with his calm composure on the ball and his ability to pick out a pass on the drop of a dime.

And then there is ‘the next Yaya Toure’, Kelechi Nwakali, holding down one of the deep-lying midfield roles.

What isn’t there to like about that? All we need to fill on are another wide midfielder and another holding midfielder, which can potentially be solved by Krystian Bielik in holding and Willock out wide.

There are options, and incredibly talented options at that.

• Culled from www.foxsports.com