Five Arsenal wonderkids tipped to be the next big thing that failed to live up to the hype

Three young prospects who failed to make the grade for Arsenal, from left, Arturo Lupoli, David Bentley and Jeremie Aliadiere.

This season has seen several academy graduates cement places in the Arsenal first-team squad.

Bukayo Saka has made the left-back spot his own, while Joe Willock has featured regularly.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has made more than 20 appearances (although not many under Mikel Arteta), and Reiss Nelson has played 18 times in all competitions.

This commitment to the club’s young players, first by Unai Emery and more recently Arteta, is laudable, but it is nothing new.

Over the course of Arsene Wenger’s tenure, several starlets were given the opportunity to impress in the first team.

Some took their chance - think Nicolas Anelka, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure and Robin van Persie. Others, though, failed to live up to their potential.

Here are five “wonderkids” who failed to make the grade at Arsenal...

Arturo Lupoli

The Italian striker was regarded as one of the brightest young players in Europe and arrived at Arsenal from Parma in the summer of 2004 for a fee of £200,000.

He had struck 45 goals in 22 games for Parma’s under-17s the previous season and maintained that form at Arsenal, netting 27 times for the club’s youth side in his maiden campaign.

There were first-team appearances that season, too - four in total and Lupoli scored a brace in a League Cup win over Everton.

He played five times for the Arsenal senior side in 2005/06 and scored once, before being loaned to Derby County for the 2006/07 campaign.

Seven goals was a somewhat underwhelming return, but in February he signed a pre-contract agreement to join Fiorentina at the end of the season.

Lupoli never made a first-team appearance for the Viola. And his career has since involved several transfers and not many goals. Now 32, he plays for Serie C side Virtus Verona.

Fran Merida

The Spaniard followed the same path as Cesc Fabregas when he left Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy to join the Gunners in the summer of 2005.

He made his Arsenal debut in September 2007 and featured twice more for the senior side before being loaned to Real Sociedad in January 2008.

Merida returned to Arsenal the following summer and made five appearances in 2008/09 and seven in 2009/10. That wasn’t enough football for the young midfielder, who opted to turn down a contract offer from the Gunners and instead sign for Atletico Madrid.

“It was a mistake, I wasn’t patient,” Merida admitted in 2015. “I realise that now, but I’ve never been a patient person.”

Merida’s move to Atletico didn’t work out and he spent time at Braga, Hercules, Atletico Paranaense and Huesca over the next six campaigns.


In 2016 he signed for Osasuna and has spent almost four years with the side who returned to La Liga after a two-year absence this season.

Jeremie Aliadiere

The 16-year-old French striker was touted as the next Nicolas Anelka when he arrived from the famed Clairefontaine football centre in 1999. No pressure, then.

He made his senior debut in 2001/02 and lurked around the first-team squad for the following three seasons, scoring five goals in 25 appearances.

Aliadiere was then loaned out to Celtic, West Ham and Wolves before he returned to Arsenal for the 2006/07 campaign.

Twenty-three appearances that season resulted in four goals and a £2m move to Middlesbrough. Aliadiere spent three years on Teesside, the same amount of time with Lorient and then a season at Umm Salal.

He returned to Lorient for the 2016/17 season and retired at the end of that campaign.

David Bentley

Much like Aliadiere, Bentley had pressure piled on him from a young age. He was viewed as a future star while in the Arsenal academy and hailed as the ‘next Dennis Bergkamp’.

He made his debut during the 2002/03 campaign and followed that up with eight appearances - and a sumptuous chip against Southampton - the following season.

Bentley spent the 2004/05 season on loan at Norwich City, and on his return to Arsenal submitted a transfer request. It wasn’t until January 2006 that he got his move, signing for Blackburn Rovers.

Twenty-three appearances that season resulted in four goals and a £2m move to Middlesbrough. Aliadiere spent three years on Teesside, the same amount of time with Lorient and then a season at Umm Salal.

He returned to Lorient for the 2016/17 season and retired at the end of that campaign.

In June 2014, at just 29 years old, Bentley announced his retirement from football.

He said: “I have no regrets. I loved every minute of playing but the game has changed. When I first started it was about enjoyment, going into work every day was brilliant.

“Now it’s a little bit robotic, the social media side of it, the money that has come into the game. I hate to say it, but it’s made it boring and predictable – calculated – and to go and sign another three or four years into that wasn’t really an option for me.”

Gedion Zelalem

The American midfielder was once tipped to emulate Fabregas at Arsenal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

After being spotted by scout Danny Karbassiyoon, Zelalem joined the Gunners at the age of 16 and was taken on the club’s 2013 pre-season tour.

Zelalem impressed and made his first-team debut in 2013/14. There was another appearance the following season and a productive loan spell at Rangers in 2015/16.

In January 2017, he joined VVV-Venlo for six months and his performances drew admiring glances from sides in Germany, the country of Zelalem’s birth.

However, he ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee while representing the USA at the 2017

Under-20s World Cup. The injury kept him out for the best part of two years and derailed his Arsenal career.

In March 2019, he left the Gunners for good to sign for MLS side Sporting Kansas City. Earlier this year, the 23-year-old joined New York City FC.

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