Arsenal must learn from Chido Obi mistake with 20-goal academy star striker

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Arsenal’s academy continues to produce stars for the future, as plenty of talent is making its way through Hale End.

The current senior side already has several key figures coming through the ranks, such as Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

The latest to come through is Max Dowman, who made his Arsenal debut at just 15 years old earlier this season.

There have been others who have looked for new challenges, such as Omari Hutchinson at Nottingham Forest and a duo of Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi at Manchester United.

The latter of those is quite the loss to Arsenal, but there is another youngster who could be just as good, and the Gunners must learn from their mistakes to keep him.

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Andre Harriman-Annous continues to impress for the Arsenal academy

Plenty of young strikers make their way through academy football, scoring goals, but there has been a real lack of those clinical options at Arsenal for a while.

While Eddie Nketiah made an impression before joining Crystal Palace, Chido Obi was the latest to make the move to rivals Manchester United instead.

Now, it seems as though Arsenal finally have their next striker coming through.

That is Andre Harriman-Annous, who is making quite an impression at just 17 years old.

The forward has quickly established himself in the under-21s, becoming a regular option for the youth side.

He has 20 goals in his career so far, which includes two in six Premier League 2 matches so far this season.

That has been enough to see Harriman-Annous nominated for the league’s player of the month.

Despite his age, the youngster is already settling well and has featured in one senior squad so far this season, which was against Liverpool.

His quick rise is one that comes with plenty of promise, but some danger too, as Arsenal must learn from the mistakes that saw Obi slip out of their grasp.

Senior team chances and a clear pathway need to be present, or at least planned out, to keep him at the club and away from rivals.

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Andre Harriman-Annous turned professional with Arsenal this season

Arsenal have taken steps already to ensure that Harriman-Annous can be a player for the distant future.

A professional contract was agreed and signed with the youngster back in August, which will now see him stay at the club for the coming years.

“It’s a really good day to sign my first professional contract. I’m a fan of Arsenal so it’s a dream come true really,” he told Arsenal’s official website.

“I want to keep playing in the under-21s, hopefully with England too. I want to go to the under-19 Euros at the end of the season and hopefully, if I keep pushing, I’ll be on the bench and make my debut with the first team. Hopefully, I can make that possible.”

Those hopes are starting to be realised, but that debut is still to be unlocked, something that Mikel Arteta could look at during the season.