Academy News: Two youth players sign their first professional contract

Arsenal has signed two youth academy players to their first professional contracts. 17-year-old forwards Amani Richards and Henry Timi Davies joined the youth academy last march after leaving Chelsea's academy (Richards) and Manchester City's academy (Davies).

Richards has featured in six matches for the under-18's squad while scoring a goal in the Premier League Cup. As for Davies's featured three times for the under-18's bagging his first goal against Plymouth Argyle in a 1-1 draw.

While Richards came from the Chelsea academy, Arsenal is the club he roots for, so signing his first professional contract was his best opportunity saying, "It's a surreal feeling, especially because it's my boyhood club and I grew up supporting them... I had a lot of conversations with Per and many other people at the club and I felt like they believed in me a lot and this was the best step for me in my journey," (Arsenal.com).

Fellow forward Davies has also enjoyed his time at Arsenal since joining. "All the effort everyone's put into me and all the belief everyone's shown in me were major factors in me signing this contract... I've enjoyed my time at Arsenal a lot so far and I know there's many more opportunities to come in the future and I'm prepared for it." Davies said (Arsenal.com).

Davies says some of his ambitions include breaking into the Arsenal senior squad, "One of my main personal goals is to get called up to train with the first team more and maybe even feature for them and get an international cap for England," (Arsenal.com).

Arsenal's academy manager Per Mertesacker continues to impress many around the club since taking the job in late 2017. In an interview with Goal.com, a source close to the Arsenal academy said, "Since he's taken the job, he's applied himself in terms of understanding how to work and how important management is of a young player on a one-to-one basis. He has the respect of the boys and the respect of the families. He ticks a lot of boxes."

As Mertesacker continues to progress the academy talent, both forwards after their first contracts will continue to work with the under-18's squad as they continue to push for practices and minutes in the future with the senior squad.