Arsenal dealt blow as SENSATIONAL talent has ‘no intention’ of staying

Robin Bairner

• 29 Apr 2024 09:04 BST
• 5 min read

Arsenal face the prospect of losing a player billed by Rio Ferdinand as their best academy graduate in years, with reports from Italy linking one of the Gunners’ brightest talents with a move to Serie A, where Juventus and Roma are interested.

Calciomercato claims that Charlie Patino has “no intention” of playing for the Gunners while Mikel Arteta remains in charge of the club, despite the 20-year-old being billed as one of the biggest talents to have graduated from the club’s Hale End academy.

Patino was loaned out to Swansea at the beginning of the season but has struggled to make an impression with the Championship club, recently dropped to the bench.

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Current ETV

Charlie Patino

DM (CL), M (C)

Swansea

Charlie Patino

DM (CL), M (C)

Swansea

€5.6M

ETV Range

€4.2M - €7M

View full profile

FootballTransfers revealed in January that Fulham were eyeing a potential move for the midfield talent, yet it is interest from Italy that is now heating up regards the Watford-born player, who has turned out for England at every youth level between U15 and U21.

“The possibility of experiencing an adventure in Italy fascinates him and there are two clubs in particular that have their eyes on him: Juventus and Roma,” Calciomercato states.

Patino’s destination is said to be tied to the fate of scout Michele Fratini, who is also targeted by the Serie A giants.

“Since he was the man who discovered Patino, it is easy to understand that the fate of the two is strongly linked. We’ll see who comes out on top,” the report adds.

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What happened to Patino?

Patino has been a player much-hyped for a long time at Arsenal, particularly after he made a scoring debut against Sunderland in the EFL Cup.

Arteta, though, was always keen to play this down.

“He is a kid that is coming through our system, a lovely kid. He is training with us almost every week. It was a dream. As a debut to come here, to score in front of our fans, a really special moment,” the Arsenal manager said after that day.

“Too much hype around him is what we have to avoid. He still has a lot of competition in front of him. He is really young. And he needs to go step by step. Today he was lucky, he got the opportunity and he took it really well.”

Patino has been unable to build from that moment, managing only one more first-team outing for the Gunners and rarely even making the bench. Instead, he has had loan spells with Blackpool and now Swansea.

Back in 2022, though, he was billed as the best of Arsenal’s academy kids by Rio Ferdinand.

“Go on YouTube and watch his clips. It’s a joke what you see, the talent he’s got,’ Ferdinand said. “I’ve spoken to people at Arsenal and what they say about him in terms of this kid, talent-wise, could potentially be the best of the lot that’s come out in recent years. It’s a huge bar, but this kid has the talent and the big, big part of him is his mentality.

“When you talk to anybody who knows him, mentally, he doesn’t get carried away, doesn’t get too low, doesn’t get too high, very balanced kid, but has all the fundamentals in his game to really go to the top of the tree.

‘This kid is the next. I just feel, when you watch him, there’s a beautiful way he plays, the balance, the rhythm, the fans will enjoy watching him.”

He is a player critics suggest is too slight to play in the Premier League, and those in the know around Arsenal suggesting that Patino favours a move to Spain or Italy where the football is more technical.

As such, Juventus or Roma could well get the best out of a player who still has much to give.