Amani Richards says Arsenal have a truly ‘inspirational’ talent in their ranks

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Arsenal academy ace Amani Richards has named Gunners star Bukayo Saka as a “big inspiration” at the Emirates.

The 17-year-old spoke of his fellow Hale End graduate after signing his first professional contract.

Richards only joined Arsenal from Chelsea in March, but he’s been making waves in the Gunners setup.

The forward has made 11 Arsenal Under-18 appearances to date and has even featured for the Under-23s.

In addition, Richards has taken part in training with the Arsenal senior team at London Colney.

An England youth international, Richards was raised in Islington and comes from a family of Gunners supporters.

“Representing Arsenal is crazy” – Amani Richards

In conversation with the Arsenal media team, he spoke of how much it means to pen a professional contract at the club.

“I feel great, it’s a surreal feeling,” he told Arsenal Media.

“Especially because it’s my boyhood club and I grew up supporting them.

“Representing Arsenal is crazy, no words can describe it, it’s out of this world!

“I had a lot of conversations with Per (Mertesacker) and many other people at the club.

“And I just felt like they believed in me a lot and I felt like this was the best step for me in my journey.”

Richards also spoke of how inspirational Saka has been for him.

The 20-year-old has come up through the ranks to break into the Arsenal first team and become one of the first names on Mikel Arteta’s teamsheet.

In addition, Saka has also starred for England, featured at Euro 2020 and is likely to head to the World Cup next year.

“Saka is a big inspiration for me,” added Richards.

“Because he’s doing it at a big level, on the big stage at such a young age, it’s really inspirational.”