Various reports are claiming that North London giants Arsenal have reignited their interest in West Ham United youngster Domingos Quina and are closely monitoring the 17-year-old. The Portuguese midfielder has had a phenomenal season with the national team so far, in the ongoing Under-19 Euros held in Georgia, which has now put Arsene Wenger on red alert.
Understandably, the player isn’t seen as an immediate entry to Arsenal’s first team, which has the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil and more. However, given that Slaven Bilic had wasted no time in including him in his Europa League squad almost instantly since his arrival from Chelsea last summer, he certainly keeps everyone intrigued.
Arsenal are expected to offload Jack Wilshere this summer after the English international’s decent loan run with Bournemouth ended with yet another injury last season. And although the Gunners have some exciting talents like Jeff-Rene Adelaide, Gedion Zelalem and Vlad Dragomir coming up their ranks in their midfield, Quina looks to be step up.
Arsenal had already offered a deal to the player while he was at Chelsea, but he chose to go to West Ham United instead. However, now with Arsenal playing in the Europa League, the player could be tempted to make a move if the Gunners come calling.
Quine is now impressing for Portugal in the underage tournament where he has played a significant role so far in taking Portugal to the semi-finals. He has even declared the man of the match owing to his brilliant midfield displays in Portugal’s 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. Arsenal’s interest in the teenager had cooled following an injury when he was out of sight for most of the latter part of the season.
Apart from that, the player has maintained his consistency with the Hammers since his move. He has played 13 times in Premier League 2 last season, scoring only once and assisting the same number of times. But, that goal was perhaps the best strike at the Under-23 level the last term, when he lobbed the ball over the Leicester City goal from the halfway pitch.
Chelsea had brought the player from current Liga NOS Champion Benfica’s youth academy and he had made brilliant progress under the Blues. And the fact that he hasn’t wasted any time in getting back to groove following his injury only shows his class.
He had debuted for Portugal’s Under-17 back in 2015 as a 15-year-old where he managed to score eight times in 14 appearances. Since then he has only improved with Under-19 debut happening in October 2016. If Arsenal do manage to get him, he could be surely seen making an impact at the Emirates in the not so distant future.
