St Johnstone have confirmed that 16-year-old defender Callan Hamill has joined Arsenal for an undisclosed fee.
Hamill joins the Gunners’ scholarship intake ahead of the new campaign, having already made his senior bow for the Saints in Scotland’s second tier at the tail-end of last season.
He’ll now compete for game time with Adam Birchall’s under-18s and Max Porter’s under-21s with a view to signing a professional contract when he turns 17 next March.
Alongside Hamill, 12 others from the Arsenal Academy have signed scholarship terms – Jack Talbot, Marli Salmon (who took part in last week’s first team training camp in La Manga), Parick Stachow, Joshua Tahou, Abraham Owusu-Gyasi, Josiah King, Teshuan Murisa, Maalik Hashi, Suarap Sampang, Bowen Phillips, Brando Bailey-Joseph and Marley Frohock.
In recent days, Arsenal have also announced professional contracts for Cam’ron Ismail, Louie Copley, Marcell Washington (who has joined from Chelsea following a successful trial) and Will Sweet.
Following the departures of Khayon Edwards and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Arsenal have been looking to strengthen their attacking options at youth level. Both Salford City’s Will Wright and Blackburn’s Igor Tyjon have been linked.
The under-21s endured a tough start to their pre-season schedule, going down 5-2 to St Albans City last night.