Arsenal may not have won the Premier League title for over 12 years now, but the North London club have produced some of the finest talents in world football over the last decade. Things are going south for current manager Arsene Wenger as the club suffered back-to-back defeats, which have more or less pulled them out of the title race. With that, the future of the 67-year-old is in real jeopardy.
However, it doesn’t seem to stop him from looking for fresh talents in his spare time. The new ‘sensation’, as every starlet linked with Arsenal are often christened, goes by the name of George Hirst and he is currently playing for Sheffield Wednesday.
Only a 17-year-old, the forward has made just two appearances for the club this season but has been tremendously impressive at youth level, which has caught Wenger’s attention. According to reports, Arsenal are tracking his progress and have sent scouts on a regular basis to check him out.
Although Arsenal haven’t done any real business in the last winter transfer window, they have brought in Cohen Bramall – who had been on trial at the Owls – from non-league Hednesford Town. Arsenal have often missed out on a large chunk of important stars at the top-level but are known be quite swift in landing young talents. Hence, a move for the youngster is somewhere around the corner.
Hirst made his debut for the Owls in the EFL Cup defeat to Cambridge in August before featuring against Reading in December. George is the son of Wednesday legend David Hirst, who currently works as a youth coach at Hillsborough.
The club has received positive reports on the England youth international, who celebrates his 18th birthday next week. Striker’s position has been a huge crisis for Arsenal throughout the last decade with average front players like Marouane Chamakh, Emanuel Adebayor, Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo and more taking that position. Although Olivier Giroud has brought in some consistency to his role as a forward lately, Wenger has also deployed Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott in that position.
The youngest forward to play for the club currently is Chuba Akpom, who started quite brightly before injuries stalled his progress. And Wenger looks to add more potency to his arsenal up front. Hirst has been brilliant in the England U-18 and U-17 teams, scoring four goals in seven appearances and is shooting his way up the ladder. Everton are also tracking the young talent and could give stiff competition to the London giants.
