Tyreece John-Jules stole the show on Tuesday, scoring our third goal against Al-Nasr just five minutes into his first senior appearance for the club.
He is just the latest in a long line of academy graduates to make an impact on the first-team stage and, along with the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Xavier Amaechi, is part of an exciting group of teenagers looking to give Unai Emery a selection headache next season.
One of the members of staff responsible for our youngsters’ development is former captain Per Mertesacker. The German started as our academy manager at the beginning of this season and spent his first few months getting to know the ins and outs of his new role.
With that experience now under his belt, Mertesacker sat down with Adrian Clarke on a special edition of The Breakdown to discuss:
- What he has learnt about his new position
- The type of player we’re developing
- How excited he is about the next batch of youngsters
- And much, much more
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