Arsenal’s pursuit of Fluminense striker Wellington has stepped up a gear after the Brazilian flew into London this week to have a look around the facilities at London Colney and begin transfer talks.

Young Guns reveled last week that the club had booked out four hotel rooms all for Brazilian youngsters, and we’ve since been able to confirm that one of the rooms was for the quick-silver front-man. However, a move appeared to be dead last month when Fluminense coach Carlos Alberto Parreira promoted the Brazil Under 17 international to his first-team squad.

The starlet, nicknamed Ciel, has quickly become one of the most sought after youngsters among European clubs. Real Madrid, Chelsea and Barcelona are among interested parties, while Manchester United are believed to have made inquiries recently. United scouts will know all about Wellington as he hammered one of the goals which saw Flu win the Nike Cup at Old Trafford last summer.

Yet Arsenal have always been the front runners after Wellington impressed during a 7 day trial around Christmas time. He played 45 minutes for the Under 16’s against Norwich and he made an emphatic impression, scoring 4 goals. This led to speculation that he had been signed, but those reports were wide of the mark.

But now it appears a deal could finally go through. Liam Brady has openly been looking for a young striker with Chelsea’s Frank Nouble the latest name to be linked. It’s unknown how a deal would be formatted as FIFA rules dictate Brazilian youngsters must be 18 before they leave their native country, although if the players family are open to moving before a switch is completed this can be got around.

Article By – J.Sanderson

If you’d like to read more about Arsenal’s young Gunners, then yesterdays unveiling of our 2009-2010 Player Profiles will defiantly interest you.

Not only has the section been updated with many new names, but even the layout and design has changed. The new squad consists of 39 profiles, including 3 goalkeepers, 15 defenders, 12 midfielders and 9 forwards. There is a mixture of professionals, scholars and a scattering of schoolboys – all names to watch out for in the future.

From last year’s profiles, Jack Wilshere, Jay Simpson, Aaron Ramsey, Kerrea Gilbert and Kieran Gibbs have been removed as they’re now considered first-team players or too old to feature in this section. Added to that, all the transfers have been updated, so any player from the Transfer Centre who had a profile has now been removed. New signings Sean McDermott and Jamie Edge have profiles, as does January arrival Martin Angha.

So feel free to explore them, if you haven’t already, and leave some feedback below. We’d like to know what you like, what you don’t like, and what we can improve for next year.

Click Here To View The New Profiles!

Article By – J.Sanderson

Young Guns is delighted to announce that our 2009-2010 Player Profiles will be available from tomorrow afternoon. After weeks of planning and designs, the section is having a complete revamp.

The new squad will consist of 39 profiles, including 3 goalkeepers, 15 defenders, 12 midfielders and 9 forwards. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow before their identities are revealed, but there is a mixture of professionals, scholars and a scattering of schoolboys.

From last year’s profiles, Jack Wilshere, Jay Simpson, Aaron Ramsey, Kerrea Gilbert and Kieran Gibbs have been removed as they’re now considered first-team players or too old to feature in this section. Added to that, all the transfers have been updated, so any player from the Transfer Centre who had a profile has now been removed.

New signings Sean McDermott and Jamie Edge have profiles, as does January arrival Martin Angha. We’ve decided to stray away from the ‘player picture’ side of the profiles and you can expect a completely new and hopefully improved design.

The Young Guns team will be working throughout the night to get this new service ready, so apologies if the current Player Profiles are unavailable for any period of time. We look forward to you joining us tomorrow to enjoy them and thank you for all the supportive e-mails received regarding them.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal are closing in on a deal to sign highly rated Chelsea winger Frank Nouble after he turned down professional forms with the West London outfit, with a lack of first team opportunities cited as the major reason.

Liam Brady has been an admirer of the powerful prospect for some time and previously tried to sign him as a 15-year-old. Frank is also known to be a fan of the youth system at Arsenal and is close friends with midfield maestro Jack Wilshere. However, Tottenham and Aston Villa have also been alerted and will offer serious competition should the Gunners make a bid.

The 17-year-old is regarded by many as one of the most promising forwards in the country. He featured 5 times for the Blues’ Under 18’s during their Youth Cup run during the 2007-2008 campaign and turned out 21 times in the Academy League. Last season he was more of a regular and cemented his place as ‘one to watch’ with a stunning volley at Old Trafford in the F.A Youth Cup.

After making his Reserve debut in 2007, he is now recognised as a regular and has played against Arsenal’s second-string on a handful of occasions. By Christmas he already had 11 goals for the Youth team and a handful for the Reserves. He’s been tipped by many Chelsea fans as one player who can really kick on into the first team.

Nouble is an avid Manchester United fan who was scouted playing for Millwall before switching to Chelsea as an 11-year-old. He’s level headed too and admits he would have been an accountant if his football career didn’t work out.

Frank is a powerful, aggressive, and pacy left winger who can play up front with ease. The Ivorian born starlet has also taken part in various athletics competitions with much success. Many have compared him to Liverpool’s Ryan Babel and in terms of playing style they are similar. It’s expected the 17-year-olds future will be resolved in the next two weeks with a transfer very much on the cards.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal striker Carlos Vela was rested for Mexico’s game with Panama, which ended with 3 players sent off.

Vela has made a surprisingly quick recovery from his injury suffered against Nicaragua, and was photographed training on Wednesday. However, it can be assumed that Aguirre (Mexico manager) decided to give his young striker some more time to heal rather than playing him in this bruising encounter.

In fact, it looks like Vela may well be fit for the final group game against Guadeloupe, who qualified last night with a win against Nicaragua. Vela himself had this to say on his injury:

“It was just a scare. But what a scare.”

The game itself was remarkable for its aggressive nature and crowd trouble. It ended 1-1 with both goals in the first half. Sabah for Mexico and Perez for Panama, but the real action occurred towards the end when Panama’s Phillips got sent off for a scuffle with Aguirre who was sent to the stands. There were also missiles thrown by Mexico fans at Panama’s goalscorer Perez, and a serious of incidents between sets of fans. Both teams were already down to ten men and the whole game was pretty messy.

Hopefully Vela will be able to restore a degree of class to Mexico on Sunday, and they’ll need to beat Guadeloupe to ensure progression.

Article By – Gianni Sonvico

With Arsenal’s Under 18’s set to join their Reserve counterparts in pre-season training next week, attention is starting to turn to next season. Pre-season fixtures are a key part to building up to the new campaign and you can see the complete classification of the games the Reserves and Youth’s will be playing in the coming weeks.

A selection of youth players will be on show when Arsenal lick off their pre-season with the annual clash with Barnet on the 18th of July. Two days later a squad consisting solely of young players will take on Lincoln City at Sincil Bank. Steve Bould’s Under 18’s will then participate in the Toomey Trophy, which will be hosted by Southend United over the weekend of July 25th and 26th.

A similar squad to that which takes on Lincoln City will then take to the field against Maidenhead United on the 28th of July, and then complete pre-season with another yearly clash, this time with Boreham Wood on August 4th. A selection of starlets may travel to Austria with the first team for the traditional training camp and double header with Szombathely Haladas and SC Columbia. A lucky few could also take part in the Emirates Cup on the weekend of August 1 and 2.

So Arsenal’s Reserves and Youth complete schedule is as follows:

Arsenal V Barnet                                                      Arsenal V Lincoln City
18th July 2009                                                            20th July 2009
Underhill, Barnet FC                                              Sincil Bank, Lincoln City FC
Kick Off: 3pm                                                               Kick Off: 7.30pm

Toomey Trophy

Arsenal V Southend United                                Arsenal V Fulham/Everton
25th July 2009                                                            26th July 2009
Roots Hall, Southend United FC                      Roots Hall, Southend United FC
Kick Off: 3pm                                                                 Kick Off: 3pm

Arsenal V Maidenhead United                         Arsenal V Boreham Wood
28th July 2009                                                           August 4th 2009
York Road, Maidenhead United                      FC Meadow Park, Boreham Wood FC
Kick Off: 7.45pm                                                         Kick Off: 7.30pm

The relevant ticket details can be found over at Arsenal.com. Young Guns will be offering full coverage of all of these games and will cover any first team fixtures which have signifcant young players involved.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal have booked out four hotel rooms for a one month period with Arsène Wenger believed to be welcoming a selection of Brazilian’s to the club for trials, Young Guns has learnt.

The hotel in question is the same one used famously by Andrey Arshavin as he nervously waited to complete his move to Arsenal in January. The nationalities and ages of the players are unknown yet it’s thought one room is for returning wing-back Pedro Botelho, and that the other three are also from Brazil and are all youngsters.

They would join, or may even include, Mirassol centre back Luis Gustavo Conte and Fluminense winger Wellington in spending time at London Colney. A second look at the pair wouldn’t be the most bizarre thing, but it would be a surprise as they already impressed when they spent 7 days with the club around Christmas time.

The news is encouraging as Manchester United have already shown the benefits of investing and taking a firm interest in the Brazilian market, and Wenger has already reaped the rewards of talent from South America with Edu, Gilberto, Denilson and the aforementioned Pedro Botelho all making the switch in recent years.

The latter has just returned from a loan spell with Salamanca and it appears Wenger may been looking for a player to send to the Spanish Segunda outfit for next season. There will be more to follow on this one once we get it.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Derby County chairman Adam Pearson has confirmed his side are keen to sign 19-year-old midfielder Mark Randall on loan for the coming season, describing him as ‘the type of player we’re looking for’.

The classy starlet has been made available for loan after an indifferent season with the club following a three month spell with Burnley. It now seems the next 12 months will decide whether Randall will make the grade at Arsenal, or be sold on. Should the latter happen, there will no doubt be plenty of suitors, yet Pearson makes it clear any agreement would strictly be a loan one.

“Mark Randall is a player we are certainly aware of and falls into the bracket of the type we are looking to bring in on a long loan.”

Burnley were also linked with his signature, along with that of Kieran Gibbs, but those reports were unfounded. It’s expected Pearson will make contact with Arsenal in the coming days and bring the youngster in to begin training early. Mark was present as Arsene Wenger put the squad through their paces this morning, but it’s already been made clear that he won’t be adding to his 11 first team appearances for the Gunners this term.

More to follow.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Young Guns announced it’s search for a new blogger a week ago today, and after being inundated with applications, we’re delighted to announce the seven people who have made it through to the Semi-Final stage.

We asked potential Blogger Idol winners to tell the judging team exactly why they believed they should win the competition in under 200 words. Our judges have been studying each entry and summing up ‘pro’s and con’s’ before making a final decision. We are now proud to reveal those seven names, in no particular order.

Ben Jones
Joe Best
Lee Hackett
Kazeem Atanda
Nick Love
Tom Quinn
Nick (No. 35)

We would firstly like to thank everybody who entered. The team were very impressed with everybody who took the time to apply and we’re positive that all the entrants could forge a career for themselves within the blogging world. However, the seven above have moved a step closer to writing for Young Guns on a regular basis, and we’re delighted with them so far.

Up next, is for the seven to show us what they’re all about. We’d like them to choose a player from our Player Profiles, and write about them. We’re looking for some interesting facts and a classy yet informative style of writing. You have until Friday the 10th of July 2009 where the entries will be put on offer for our readers to vote for. We will then get a final three names, before one final challenge.

Once again, thank you very much for everybody who entered, and we look forward to the next round of the competition!.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Carlos Vela can consider himself truly unfortunate after having to be substituted off after only 10 minutes of Mexico’s opener against Nicaragua.

Mexico went into the game following Guadeloupe’s 2-1 win over Panama, and started with the Arsenal man playing on the left of a 3 man offensive line. The game began in a fairly open manner, with Mexico starting to show their dominance as Vela made several deft touches. However, disaster struck during the 5th minute when Carlos was clattered roughly from behind. He was treated on the sidelines and made an effort to re-emerge, but it was obvious that he’d taken too severe a knock to continue. In the 11th minute he was subbed off for Medina.

Vela was then taken to the Bay Area Hospital in an ambulance and his future in the tournament will depend on the results of x-rays and scans.

Javier Aguirre (Mexico’s Manager) said this of Vela’s injury:

“Let’s hope it’s just a scare. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious. I don’t think the damage was done on the initial hit, but because of the way he fell,”

Although Aguirre is hoping that Vela will be able to recover, he has already started looking at replacements, and it must seem likely that he’ll be on the plane back to London unless there’s a drastic recovery. If that is the case, then we’ll all be hoping that he recovers in time for training and pre-season.

After Vela was subbed off Mexico did manage to win 2-0 with a penalty late in the first half and a tap-in in the 86th minute. This victory puts Mexico top of their group.

Update - Here

Article By – Gianni Sonvico