19 hours Ago
At a time where Gabriel Martinelli , Bukayo Saka , Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are all sidelined with injuries, Mikel Arteta has turned to youth to inject some life into an injury-hit attack. Seventeen-year-old Ethan Nwaneri was the Gunners' man of the match in last weekend's 2-0 win over Leicester City, where he was compared to eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi by Joe Cole . As well as Nwaneri, 18-year-old left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly has unexpectedly ousted new signing Riccardo Calafiori from the first XI, also making a vital last-ditch intervention to prevent a certain Foxes goal at the King Power.
Now bidding to strengthen their academy ranks further, The Athletic claims that Arsenal have now reached an agreement to sign Hamill, who will join the Gunners on July 1 for a six-figure sum plus add-ons. © Imago The 2009-born centre-back is unsurprisingly yet to make his senior debut for St Johnstone, but he has featured twice for Scotland's Under-17 side in a pair of European qualifiers against Lithuania and the Republic of Ireland last year. Such is Hamill's versatility that he occupied a right-wing position in those two games, and he has demonstrated his ability to function in both defence and midfield during the early portion of his career.
The 15-year-old supposedly snubbed the advances of Celtic and Rangers last summer, and Hamill's current club St Johnstone stand to receive at least £100,000 in cross-border compensation. Hamill celebrates his 16th birthday on March 1, by which point the Scottish defender will be free to complete a transfer to England, and he is said to have already trained with Arsenal's Under-18 group on a number of occasions. Despite Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly's success this season, Arsenal have failed to hang onto a handful of talented youngsters, most notably losing Chido Obi Martin and Ayden Heaven to Manchester United.
The Gunners also failed to tie Reuell Walters down to a new contract and saw the fledgling defender leave for Luton Town, while Amario Cozier-Duberry jumped ship for Brighton & Hove Albion. © Imago Arteta is of course no stranger to throwing 15-year-olds into the first-team gauntlet - see Nwaneri's historic appearance against Brentford in September 2022 - but Hamill will almost certainly continue developing with the Under-18s and Under-21s at first. While the Scot is a highly-rated option for the future, Arsenal will soon turn their focus to the here and now, and the Gunners were recently reported to have been closing in on a £51m deal for Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi .
The Spain international will replace the outgoing Thomas Partey and Jorginho , but Arsenal are also in the market for a new striker and goalkeeper, and potentially a new wide option as well. Arteta's side are rumoured to have formulated a plan to beat Liverpool to the signing of Newcastle United marksman Alexander Isak , but for the time being, Mikel Merino might act as an emergency centre-forward for Saturday's London derby with West Ham United..
