Arsenal have completed the signing of 15 year-old FC Zürich defender Martin Angha on a schoolboy contract which will become a scholarship on his 16th birthday.
Angha, full name Martin Angha-Lötscher, had been watched by Liam Brady’s coaching staff for the past six months and came to the fore during the recent Nike Cup qualifiers.
The tall Swiss linked up with his team-mates for the first time late last week and received executive box tickets for him and his family to take in the final game of the season at home to Stoke City. He was subsequently given a guided tour around the club’s state-of-the-art training ground at London Colney before making his first appearance in a Gunners shirt on Tuesday in front of 3000 people at Emirates Stadium for the u-15s in their 2-1 victort over Chelsea.
Angha is comfortable all across the back four but prefers to play at centre-back and impressed during the low-key fixture at Emirates. At 183 centimetres tall he is not quite in Ignasi Miquel’s range but still possesses a threat from set-pieces and was one of the most highly regarded talents at his previous clubs.
You will no doubt be hearing a lot more about this precocious talent in the months and years to come and below is a slideshow from his involvement in the aforementioned Nike Cup qualifiers.