First transfer confirmed! Arsenal snap up in-demand wonderkid

Tom Weber

• Updated: 16 Mar 2024 16:20 GMT
• 3 min read

Arsenal have officially completed the signing of Brayden Clarke.

The Gunners have prevailed over stiff Premier League competition to sign the Welsh youth international. Only 16, Clarke joins Arsenal as a first-year scholar.

The youngster is a central defender by trade and, intriguingly, Arsenal announced that he would feature immediately for the U18s against Crystal Palace on the day of his signing.

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Clarke had been expected to join the north London giants for a while, with first reports of the Gunners closing in on his signature surfacing at the beginning of March.

The defender came through the youth system of Wolves but decided to leave the club, with a host of unnamed Premier League sides fighting for his signature in recent weeks. Arsenal reportedly did not have to pay a compensation fee for Clarke, making it a potentially spectacular piece of business.

Clarke stars on debut

As announced by Arsenal, the Welsh U17 international featured against Palace in what turned into a rout for the Gunners U18s, with them prevailing 8-3 over their London rivals.

Despite only joining up with Arsenal on Thursday, Clarke went the full 90 minutes and was singled out for praise by coach Jack Wilshere. “Talk about personality and courage to play, the first time he trained with us was on Thursday,” the former Gunners midfielder told club media. “He trained yesterday and played today 90 minutes."

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"We weren’t sure if he’d get through the game so I asked him around 60 minutes how he was and he said ‘yeah I’m fine.’ The way he understood our style after only two days is credit to him. He’s very good technically, can manage the ball and look after the ball and I thought against Palace you’ve got to defend direct play and he did that really well."