Khari Ranson started life as a midfielder but having found his calling as a goalkeeper, the stopper is now aiming to make big strides between the sticks after signing his first professional contract.
The teenager has put pen to paper, extending his time in N5 having joined Hale End as an under-10.
The opportunity to discover his true talent with the gloves emerged at his grassroots side and from then on, Khari hasn’t looked back.
He said: “I kind of played almost everywhere. I was a left winger, I was a midfielder, I was a centre-back. I can still sometimes play in the midfield as well, but maybe just not at this level.
“I remember I was playing for my grassroots team and I volunteered to go in goal and naturally I just loved it, just jumping around, making saves, helping the team out as well and also the element of using your feet, which obviously comes into play nowadays, just helping the team, and it's something I enjoyed from very young.:
Khari helped us win the Liam Brady Cup at under-16 level, something he says is one of his biggest highlights of his eight years within our academy system.
Despite rapidly approaching a decade at Arsenal, the young stopper insists this is just the beginning.
“Per asked me what it means [to sign my first contract], and I said it gives you that extra confidence that the club believes in your attributes, your ability.
“It also gives you a baseline as well, just to crack on even more, continue your hard work for the rest of the season.
“I joined Arsenal in under-10s, so this is my eighth year here. There's going to be hopefully many more years to come as well.
“I can remember was one of my first sessions. I was shy, of course, but it's been a long time since then and hopefully there'll be many more sessions as well to continue to push and improve.”
Growing up idolising Manuel Neuer, Khari has had a knack of saving penalties during his time with us, but also in the England academy system having saved two spot kicks on his debut against Turkiye.
While he couldn’t share a secret to his penalty saving heroics, Khari offered us an insight into his style of play.
He said: “To be honest, I wouldn't say there's a secret. It's just reading the striker when you can and obviously sometimes that's that element of guessing as well.
“I'd like to say that I'm connected with the team very well out of possession. I also bring that element of shot-stopping, of course and I'd like to say that I support the team when playing out front and back as well.”
