There seems to be something special in the water at London Colney when it comes to Arsenal producing exciting attackers. Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe have all enjoyed significant success in north London after graduating from the club's academy, and the plan for the next starlet preparing to graduate out of Hale End with the aim of impacting the senior team seems to be in motion.
Amario Cozier-Duberry is a name not many outside of an Arsenal bubble would have heard of, but his current trajectory likely means it won't be long before he is a household name. The 17-year-old has been called up to senior training on multiple occasions by Mikel Arteta and he clearly justified exactly why with a spell-binding performance in the under-18 Youth FA Cup on Thursday evening.
Welcoming Cambridge to Emirates Stadium for their quarter-final clash, Cozier-Duberry was at the heart of everything good for Arsenal with multiple superb jinking runs causing the visitors all kinds of problems. The teenager also showed a lot of character to score a crucial penalty which levelled the game before Michal Rosiak netted the winner just before the end of normal time.
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Following the impressive victory, Cozier-Duberry showcased a humbling attitude and expressed his desire to make it into the Arsenal first team sighting the success of Saka, Smith Rowe and Nketiah as his reason to be optimistic he can make it at the elite level.
"Being at Arsenal is a dream come true, but I know that I'm in a very privileged position," he told Arsenal.com ."My mindset is to stay focused and strive to become the next Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah or Emile Smith-Rowe – these are guys I look up to and they're an example that there is a pathway there to the first team from Hale End."
Cozier-Duberry is not the only exciting gem in Arsenal's academy as Lino Sousa was also impressive under the lights against Cambridge. But judging by the words of Under-18s manager and former Arsenal midfielder, Jack Wilshere, the entire team have the capability of thriving in a first-team environment.
“This is a special group of boys," he said to Arsenal.com. "We showed that spirit that I keep talking about, a fire that wins you games and we’ve seen that against Newcastle, Watford, and now tonight.
We need to be better if we want to win the cup, but keep that fire and we will have a great chance. There’s a massive team spirit and unity to the group. It gets us through the tough moments.”
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