It took one moment of magic at the Emirates Cup for Jeff Reine-Adelaide to catapult himself into the consciousness of Arsenal supporters, but, despite the youngster’s immense ability, it will take much more for him to establish himself as a bonafide first-team player.
Reine-Adelaide usually operates out wide or as an attacking midfielder, but, on Monday evening, perhaps in an attempt to cram as many forward-thinking players as possible as Arsenal sought to claw back a deficit against Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup, the Frenchman was deployed as a deep-lying central midfielder.
It’s safe to say that the experiment didn’t work particularly well as Reine-Adelaide wasn’t his usual effervescent self and he wasn’t able to have the same impact on the game as he normally does.
That’s not to say the Frenchman was non-existent – he still played some neat passes, but in order to get the best out of him, Arsenal should refrain from playing Reine-Adelaide in such a deep lying position in the future.
At his best Reine-Adelaide is a major threat to opposing defenders on account of his superb close control, his excellent dribbling and his ability to get into dangerous attacking positions.
The youngster is also, albeit rather slowly, starting to add goals to his game as he begins to edge closer to the first-team.
Reine-Adelaide is highly regarded by Arsene Wenger and has played twice competitively for the senior side so far. He can seek to draw inspiration from the fact that Alex Iwobi has broken into the first-team this season, suggesting that it is still possible for youngsters to thrive at Arsenal.
What Reine-Adelaide needs to do now is focus on fine-tuning his game. The starlet’s decision making can occasionally be erratic, while, as was painfully apparent against City, he needs to improve in a defensive sense.
In the main, though, Reine-Adelaide is doing very well and has made a stellar impact in his first season at the club. Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup campaign may be over but there is still a major objective for the Gunners to attempt to achieve at youth level as the under-21s attempt to earn promotion to the top tier of second string football.
Reine-Adelaide is already one of the standout players for Arsenal at that level and the hope will be that he will be able to progress to the first-team in due course. For now, though, it is time for him to keep improving as he strives to make the breakthrough.
