Arsenal youth team player, Bukayo Saka is among seven players in The Gunners’ squad, who are set for senior debuts in today’s Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava.
Footballlive.ng gathered that, Saka, born September 5, 2001 in London, 17 years, 2 months, 24 days, will be the youngest Nigerian-born player to debut for Arsenal if he features in Thursday night’s away fixture.
The current youngest Nigerian to play for Arsenal is Chuba Akpom, who was 17 years, 11 months, 5 days when he made his competitive debut in a 3-1 win vs Sunderland on September 14, 2013.
Second on the list is Chuks Aneke, who first played for Arsenal’s senior team aged 18 years, 2 months, 17 days.
Saka trained with The Gunners’ first team on Wednesday morning at London Colney and was part of the squad that flew out to Kiev, Ukraine.
The 17-year-old was promoted to Arsenal’s under-23 team at the start of the season and recently got his debut with England’s under-19 squad in a match against Moldova, two months after he played for the U18s.
Two months ago, Saka got his first England U18 cap and signed his first professional contract with the North London club, then scored in the 4-0 mauling of Moldova in a EURO U19 Championship qualifier.
Saka has been involved in all matches played by Arsenal in the Premier League 2 this term, eleven in total, most recently against Derby County.
