As expected in every transfer windows, there will be arrivals and departures with clubs doing their bit to facilitate deals for various players.
Charlie Patino was signed from Luton Town as an 11-year-old for £10,000 and quickly rose up the ranks, featuring in the Under-18s just as a 14-year-old. Patino was regarded as one of the best youth prospects at the club and when he signed his first professional contract in 2020, he was touted as one of the best NextGen players from Premier League academies. Patino scored his first Arsenal goal in the 5-1 drubbing of Sunderland on his debut, shortly after replacing another Academy graduate, Emile Smith Rowe. Patino also started in the FA Cup Third Round loss to Nottingham Forest.
The next season, Patino was loaned to Blackpool, playing 37 of their 46 games in the Championship but the Tangerines didn’t retain his services. Last season, Patino went out on loan to Swansea, and he featured regularly for them, playing 33 games.
Arsenal has a paucity of options in central midfield, and it was interesting to see how Patino wasn’t even considered to follow his teammates on their United States tour and the Emirates Cup. However, we will no longer be seeing Charlie Patino in our ranks as he is set to join Deportivo de la Coruna for £1 million. Many wouldn’t bat an eyelid over this move, but it’s just a reminder how hard it has been to break out from the Academy to the first team in recent years. Folarin Balogun beasted at Under-21 level and had a couple of loan spells but after his breakthrough season at Stade de Reims, Mikel Arteta didn’t feel he was still good enough to command a first team berth, so he left for Monaco.
Patino’s case feels a bit different because it was evident that the talent is there and with many aging players in Arsenal’s midfield, there was some expectation for a player as good as him to at least become a squad player.
Looking at the current Arsenal squad, the only Hale End graduates in the first team are Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson. While Saka is miles ahead of his peers, rising to talisman of status at Arsenal, Nketiah and Nelson, despite getting some valuable appearances and contributed to the cause, are closer to the exit door.
I hope things bode well for Patino in his new surroundings. Deportivo is in the Spanish Segunda Division, so he can grow in stature and help them to gain promotion back to La Liga
I just hope Arsenal inserted a sweet sell-on clause that would see Patino give us some good funds to add to their coffers.
Sayonara.
