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Barcelona are interested in signing Arsenal teenager Charlie Patino.
The 17-year old midfielder has been attracting rave reviews with his performances for both Arsenal’s and England’s youth squads, and that has attracted the attention of several other clubs, including Barcelona, the club Patino supports.
However, he is rated highly in North London and the Gunners have no intention of letting him go.
Instead, Mikel Arteta is prepared to hand him a place in the first-team squad, and he will be offered a professional contract as soon as he turns 18 later this year.
And could be given a first-team debut in the EFL Cup against Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Now there are hopes that he can follow the path of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe who have developed through the Arsenal academy system at Hale End and gone on to become first-team regulars and, in the case of Saka, an established England international.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.