Arsenal\u2019s academy continues to produce players who believe there is a route into Mikel Arteta\u2019s senior squad, and next season could present another opening for several of them.<\/p>\n
Arteta has already shown that he is prepared to trust young talent, with Bukayo Saka, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri standing as recent examples of graduates who have been given a platform to develop at first-team level.<\/p>\n
Max Dowman may already have completed his first breakthrough year. He made 13 first-team appearances in 2025\/26, broke records and became a regular talking point, although his minutes were handled carefully because of his age. At 16, he was eased into the side rather than overexposed, but 2026\/27 could be the season when he moves from useful substitute to genuine star.<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s commitments across four competitions should create room for him. The domestic cups look likely to offer him starts, while he has already shown that he can contribute in the Premier League and the Champions League. Dowman\u2019s ability to operate on the right wing or as an attacking midfielder is another advantage, especially with competition for places expected to remain high.<\/p>\n
Marli Salmon also took early steps in senior football last season, making four appearances across the Champions League and FA Cup. The 16-year-old centre back did not attract the same level of attention as Dowman, but his rise into the senior group remains notable. Arsenal, though, are well stocked in central defence, with Gabriel, Piero Hincapi\u00e9, Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera all options, while Ben White and Jurri\u00ebn Timber can also play there. That makes regular opportunities difficult to secure.<\/p>\n
Andre Harriman-Annous offers a different profile. The 18-year-old has impressed as both a centre forward and wide player in the academy, and his record of 10 goals and two assists for the Under-21s underlines his productivity. He has pace, direct running and a finishing touch, though he may still need added muscle before stepping up fully. Arteta used him twice last season in the FA Cup and Champions League.<\/p>\n
Louie Copley, meanwhile, is yet to debut for Arsenal but already has senior experience after nine appearances on loan with Crawley Town in League Two, where he started eight games and set up one goal. Evan Mooney has only recently arrived, having joined from St Mirren after 23 appearances and a Scottish League Cup win in Scotland, and he has settled quickly south of the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal\u2019s academy hopefuls are pushing for senior chances as Arteta weighs the next step in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303],"tags":[1836,1446,1407],"class_list":["post-18053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-academy","tag-arsenal-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}