As reported by Metro, Arsenal have secured the services of former Chelsea centre-back Zech Medley on a scholarship deal. The 16-year-old has played through the ranks of the west London club since the age of 8 yet was shown the exit door six weeks back. As a result, he was handed a trial by the North London club where he made an impression.
In terms of youth development in England’s top flight, one could presumptuously say that there are no greener pastures than Arsenal, thus, despite deemed as a below par player for his previous club, Medley will be contented with his new home. The gangly centre-back was all smiles when penning the deal that offered him an instant lifeline.
However, in his first game as a trialist, he grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons. In an Under-18 encounter against Fulham, Medley was involved in a couple of reckless decisions in the opening exchanges and conceded a penalty that helped the opponents to end the match 1-1.
Looking at the positive side, though, he showed ample of potential, and with proper coaching, those mistakes can be easily evaporated. Most notably, the towering defender possesses good aerial ability and is confident on passing the ball from the back, an attribute that gets an uptick with Arsenal’s style of play. Moreover, the club failed to fortify their under-18 defensive ranks during the summer, so this serves as a win-win opportunity for both parties.
Despite his club form being a little patchy, Medley has been a consistent performer for his country, nabbing 7 appearances at the Under-16 level. He turns out to be their 12th player in their 2016/17 scholarship intake. A massive amount of work awaits him if he is keen to stamp an authority to leap as an Under-23 player. From there, hoping to follow the footsteps of Ashley Cole and Martin Keown, homegrown talents who not only broke into the first team, also became one of the most notable names of the club.
Having their London rival snapping up their previous player might impose a slight concern yet the Blues are also monitoring bevy of young prospects lately, which include AIK striker, Alexander Isak. Not forgetting other academic starlets who are off on loan to prove their worth to their parent club.
It’s pretty early to say if Chelsea’s loss is Arsenal’s gain, only time could answer. On the other hand, with only a number of weeks remaining for the January transfer window to open, both the London teams will be looking to rubber-stamp their title credentials with exciting stars and at that level, business between both clubs are unlikely to happen as rumours of Fabregas returning to Arsenal have taken place some time back.