According to English news outlet, The Daily Express, Arsenal scouts are monitoring the development of Lyon starlet Amine Gouiri. The 17-year-old forward, touted to become the next big thing coming out from the Lyon youth academy, is already making quite a stir in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup so far.
Although yet to make his professional debut, Gouiri trains with the Lyon senior team and is poised to make his professional debut soon enough. He is currently on International duty with France U-17 in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. He is also a regular for Lyon’s U-19 side playing the UEFA Youth League.
He fired in a brace in France U-17’s emphatic 7-1 over New Caledonia U-17 in their opening game of the U-17 WC. It’s easy to imagine why he’s such a popular youth figures in the French youth divisions, by looking at his record with the French U-17 side. The 17-year-old has already netted an impressive 15 goals in just 13 games for Les Blues’ U-17 side.
Naturally a centre-forward, Amine Gouiri tends to act as a false number nine and eventually shifts into wide areas as the game progresses. Amine’s positioning sense is very good for a player of his age. On the wings, his playing style is compared to another French superstar Antoine Griezmann.
Gouiri is strong enough to keep hold of possession and his slick movements and quick feet help him dribble past defenders at will. His close control is absolutely superb along with his delicious first touch. Getting to the byline and providing a dangerous cross is amongst his usual characteristics when playing as a winger.
However, he does need to work on his shooting and finishing a lot. His shots aren’t the most accurate while he severely lacks the finishing touch of a forward. Furthermore, Amine Gouiri also needs to improve his physicality if he is to survive in the top flight. Although all these weaknesses shouldn’t be too much of a worry considering just how young he actually is.
Amine Gouiri could be a decent signing for the Arsenal, who will want bolster their youth department. After signing Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon, Arsenal will be confident of luring the youngster to the English shores. Furthermore, Arsene Wenger always had a key interest in the French market, which is sure to lend him an advantage when it comes to signing the highly rated Lyon youngster. But is he the right man for Arsenal?
