Arsenal teenager Khayon Edwards is in contention to be part of the squad that takes on Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Thursday evening, and potentially even make his debut from the bench after he was spotted training with the first team.
The Gunners have already shown their willingness to hand youth a taste of senior football this season, with 15 year old Ethan Nwaneri becoming the youngest player in Premier League history when he came on for the dying minutes against Brentford last month.
And, having regularly had youth options on the substitutes bench, it could now be the turn of forward Edwards, who has started the Premier League 2 season in good form, with two goals and an assist to his name in four outings.
The 19-year-old striker was called up to training to replace Gabriel Jesus, who missed out, though sources close to the Gunners insist that this was more for rest than as a result of an injury picked up against Liverpool.
Edwards is not alone, either, with highly-rated teen Catalin Cirjan also having made the trip to Norway after having been on the bench for both of the Europa League clashes so far. Cirjan has suffered with injuries that have kept him sidelined for the best part of two years, but still only 19-years-old the Romanian midfielder is hoping that those are now firmly behind him.
Khayon Edwards and Catalin Cirjan also travelled. It’s a first senior callup for Edwards. pic.twitter.com/zIU3CiU1f0
— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) October 13, 2022
Arsenal head into the tie knowing that a win would take them to the verge of qualification with three games still to play, and a win in either of their final three fixtures would secure their path out of the group stage.
