Rui Fonte- Evidence that perserverance pays off

Having initially joined Arsenal on loan from Sporting Lisbon at the beginning of last season, Portuguese youth international Rui Fonte scored eight goals in twenty-three games for the Gunners’ u-18 side. Not a bad return, you might think for a player still adapting to life in England. However, Rui failed to register for the reserves and was becoming increasingly frustrating to watch. His slight, tender frame was just not suitable for the physical competition of Reserve league south and he was frequently outmuscled when on the ball. Despite this, he signed a professional contract with the club in the summer of 2007 and went in to this season looking for more goals.

He began the campaign playing for the under-18s and scored in successive games against Charlton and Aston Villa. He also began playing regularly for the reserves but struggled to adapt to his new partnership with Vincent van den Berg, who was also short of goals at reserve level. Then, in December, came Rui’s big break. He finally scored his first goal for the reserves, and convinced Neil Banfield of his ability. So much so, that Rui has been almost a permanent fixture in the starting XI since then. He has notched five goals in total for the under-18s this campaign and scored his second reserve goal against West Ham on Monday night. After good work from Jack Wilshere, Rui latched on the ball and toe-poked it home. His perserverance and endeavour in scoring underlined his potential.

It’s clear that Rui prefers the ball on the ground and suits our style of play well. The future looks bright for Rui, however, he has a lot of players in his position and ultimately may have to go out on loan in order to get more experience though. It may seem unlikely that Rui will make it at Arsenal given the competition. One thing is for certain though, he will give his all in trying to do so.