Arsenal could fast-track 18-year-old after Timber injury, tipped to ‘become as good as Saliba’

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal have a great academy and reports suggest that Mikel Arteta is ready to give another exciting prospect his chance this season.

According to Football Transfers, the Arsenal manager is ready to give a new Hale End product an ‘opportunity to step up and replace’ injured defender Jurrien Timber.

Sadly, the Arsenal summer signing suffered an ACL injury which will see him sidelined for months. Arteta is looking for replacements and has apparently touted academy star Reuell Walters as an option. The report goes on to say that Arteta sees Walters as a ‘defensive alternative’ to Timber.

Apparently, ‘multiple conversations have been held’ over giving Walters the chance to impress in the first team. Some insiders at Arsenal rate the 18-year-old so highly they believe he can ‘become as good as William Saliba.’

Walters could be given chance in Arsenal first team

It is great to see the Hale End academy players given chances in such a big team like Arsenal. It shows how strong the academy is.

We have seen players like Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson come into the first team squad and this should give Arteta more reason to see whether Walters could be a player they could promote.

The squad is very big and it will be a big blow for the club that one of their summer transfer signings suffered a big injury.

The fact that he is tipped to become as good as Saliba by people within the club suggests that Walters has a very high ceiling.

If he is integrated into the first-team, there will no doubt be some pressure on him but if he is as highly-rated as Arsenal believe him to be then this should be fine.

The Gunners want to be battling at the top these days and being able to have a strong academy is a huge bonus.