Arsenal sent scouts to watch four of the most promising talents in the Championship at the weekend as Arsene Wenger plans to bolster his side in January.
The four players that have caught the eye of Wenger and his scouts are: Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace, Charlie Austin of Burnley, Liam Trotter of Millwall and Will Hughes of Derby.
Chief scout, Steve Rowley, attended Millwall’s 2-1 victory over Derby at the weekend as he watched Trotter and Hughes in action.
The Gunners have been keeping close tabs on Millwall’s midfielder, Liam Trotter since the start of the season and they have recently checked out 17-year old Hughes of Derby since hearing rave reviews about the youngster. Will Hughes has even been able to break his way into the England U21 side.
Another Arsenal scout was seen watching the Burnley-Ipswich game at the weekend. It is believed that the scout wa watching goal-machine, Charlie Austin. The 23-year old has been in superb form this year and has already scored 20 goals in just 18 appearances, making him the most deady goalscorer around europe. Even more deadly than Lional Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It has been made very clear that Arsenal are one of many clubs fighting to sign Palace wonderkid, Wilfried Zaha, but the Championship side has made it clear that they wouldn’t even accept a £20m bid for the youngster.
Many Arsenal fans may be worried that they aren’t the sort of names they want to hear being linked with the club, but they only have to look at Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Carl Jenkinson, who they signed all from lower league clubs.
Alex William Batt
