Brady- We have high hopes for Afobe, Aneke and Rees + Irish youngsters revealed

If you’ve been following the SkySports Victory Shield this season, then no doubt you will have already discovered the phenomonal talent of Benik Afobe (pictured above). In the first game of the tournament, against Northern Ireland, the Dagenham-born striker scored twice in a 6-0 win. He followed it up by scoring the only goal against Wales two weeks ago and has been named in the squad for the decisive match against Scotland which takes place on November 28th.

Arsenal Academy manager Liam Brady told the Official Matchday Programme about Benik’s exploits with the Three Lions

Benik Afobe scored the winning goal against Wales the other week, and we have big hopes for him as we do Josh Rees and Chuks Aneke who also play for England Under-16s

Afobe, who has been handed the no.74 shirt is training full time with the club and scored on his debut for Arsenal under-18s against Fulham last month.

Finally, quite a few people have picked up on Charlie Nicholas’ comments on Sky after the Wigan game on Tuesday. Speaking to Jeff Stelling, Charlie mentioned that there are a few promising Irish youngsters on the club’s books who haven’t played for the first-team yet. Under-18s goalkeeper James Shea is one of those players, although he is yet to represent his country at international level, whilst first-year scholar Conor Henderson has been ruled out for the season due to injury. Another shot stopper, Sean McDermott, will join the club when he turns 16 in May. Sean has Irish heritage and has played for his country at under-15 level. Maybe one of the less talked about youngsters is Cormac Hegarty, a promising player for the under-16s. Cormac (pictured above with Afobe) had several injury setbacks last season but is now an integral part of Steve Gatting’s side.