Arsenal are set to complete the signing of their second summer addition with Ceadach O’Neill to sign as a new Under-18s player from Linfield. The attacking midfielder will join Jack Wilshere’s group after his Gaelic Football Club Kildrea confirmed the news on social media.
They also confirmed that it will be a three-year deal that he will sign although this will likely be when he signs a professional contract as he turns 17 next April. O’Neill joins Danish youth keeper Lucas Nygaard with the group as the club’s second summer addition.
This feeds on from the club’s ambition to strengthen its youth core following a number of summer departures. Brayden Clarke arrived before the end of the season having previously left Wolves to join as a free agent.
There is growing pressure for Arsenal to step up their transfer business with the market entering July, the Profit and Sustainability Regulation deadline passing and both summer tournaments reaching their latter stages. By this time last year, Kai Havertz had already signed from Chelsea with well-publicised chases for both Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber underway.
So far, there is little knowledge of who the primary targets are in a number of positions. Riccardo Calafiori has emerged as a defensive option and Joan Garcia another goalkeeper of interest should Aaron Ramsdale move on.
The additions of Nygaard and O’Neill will, however, please the club from a long-term perspective. Both Reuell Walters and Amario Cozier-Duberry were confirmed to have left the club with the expiration of their deals and will seek pastures new.
O’Neill is an attacking option for the youth teams and will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock. He does have the talented Ethan Nwaneri in his way however who is the highest-regarded talent in the academy with hopes of making a full senior breakthrough in this upcoming season.
