Arsene Wenger admits Gedion Zelalem is improving "very quickly" after watching the teenager make his mark on another pre-season friendly in Asia.
The 16-year-old showed his eye for a killer pass in the victories over the Indonesia Dream Team and Vietnam and he was at it again on Monday night, picking out Theo Walcott for Arsenal's third goal in a 3-1 win over Nagoya Grampus.
"Pre-season helps us to give a chance to these players, to get them to realise what it demands to be at the top level"
Arsene Wenger
Zelalem, like a number of Arsenal youngsters, is reaping the benefits of a place in Wenger's tour squad and the manager is impressed by what he's seen.
"He's a young player who develops well," Wenger told Arsenal Player. "Pre-season helps us to give a chance to these players, to get them to realise what it demands to be at the top level. He is improving very quickly and he had another appearance, that's good for his development."
Arsenal are three games into their pre-season schedule and complete the Asia Tour 2013 against Urawa Reds on Friday before two fixtures on home soil in the Emirates Cup and a friendly with Manchester City in Helsinki.
"It [our fitness] is getting better in every game," noted Wenger. "We look quite sharp, we are not yet capable of maintaining that for 90 minutes but that's logical because we are still four weeks before the first game.
"We are on course and we have no big injuries, and that's very positive."
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