Arsenal have, especially under Arsene Wenger, established themselves as a club where youth can flourish. The club is unafraid to give its youngsters the required opportunity to showcase their talent and has become a sought-after destination for youngsters hoping to make their mark and perhaps grab a move to bigger clubs.
The likes of Ashley Cole and Jack Wilshere, to name a few have been the product of the club’s famed academy in recent years. The club continues to churn out talented players year after year and one player who is currently making the right noises at the club is midfielder Daniel Crowley, a midfielder who is currently on loan to Oxford United.
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In this segment, we profile the talented 19-year-old who has been compared to Jack Wilshere in recent times.
Background
The Coventry-born midfielder began his footballing career at Aston Villa, joining the club’s academy and immediately impressed a number of coaches at the club. His performances on the training ground resulted in him featuring in the U-16 team at a tender age of 12 and he continued to impress in the age groups with the club.
Arsenal, who always seem keen to land the hottest young talent too were enamoured by his performances and quickly snapped him up as a 16-year-old, despite the Midlands club going to great efforts to block the move.
After being included in the side’s Under-18 team, Crowley signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of 17 and has since been on the radar of every scout across Europe.
Style of play and strengths
Though he is often deployed on the left-wing, the player can function as an efficient number 10 of the side, an ability that he has showcased on numerous occasions when presented with an opportunity.
The right footed player is very comfortable with the ball at his feet and uses the skill and a good first touch to make space for himself and get away from his marker and has developed a penchant for beating his man without having to deploy any fancy footwork or ball control. Despite not being the biggest player on the pitch on most occasions, he has adapted to the pace and English football and is not an easy man to dispossess.
Like a number of inverted wingers currently plying their trade in the league, Crowley too loves to cut in towards goal and have a pop at the target. He is creative and has shown an ability to link up well with his attacking colleagues and can make the all important defence-splitting passes.
A dead ball specialist, Crowley possesses a lethal left foot and can prove dangerous around the box and could prove to be an invaluable asset to an Arsenal side that has often lacked a genuine free kick taker.
Crowley has demonstrated that he knows where the back of the goal is and brings a lot of attacking threat to the side he features in. It is widely believed that the player might be more suited to a central role and his abilities in the final third of the pitch would serve the club’s cause well in the long run.
Weaknesses
The 19-year-old does not have any apparent weaknesses. However, it is his decision making that has often come under scrutiny in the past. He tends to spend a lot of unnecessary time on the ball, often yielding a position of advantage to the opposition. However, we believe that, with age, he could overcome this issue and with extended first team football being afforded to him now at Oxford, he could fine tune his game to make the necessary step up to the top flight.
The confident young lad is not the finished product yet, despite possessing the right ingredients and will need to keep his head on his shoulders to ensure that he fulfils the potential the footballing world believes he does.
Quotes on the player
The player was on loan at Barnsley last season and his manager, Lee Johnson had a lot of good words to say about him despite his short stint at the club. “He's probably one of the best, or the best, or most talented 18-year-olds I've ever seen. Obviously I came through the ranks at Arsenal as well, so there's players like Ashley Cole that I include in that, players that have had very good careers. For me, it was fantastic to work with him, really enjoyed it, really appreciative to Arsenal. I think he had four or five really good effective games for us that showed his quality and where he could be.”
Like mentioned earlier, the player is on loan at League One club Oxford United in a bid to find first team footballing action and has already become an integral part of the side, featuring on 4 occasions and even going on to find the back of the net on one occasion against Brighton & Hove Albion in a League Cup fixture.
Eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland through his grandparents, Crowley has featured for England’s as well as Republic of Ireland’s junior sides and has been on the radar of both the country’s ever since.
However, it looks increasingly likely that the player might represent Ireland in the years to come, given the efforts of Martin O’Neill, Ireland’s current managers in ensuring the youngster features for the boys in the green.
