Our under-18s are in action against Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup, aiming to go all the way for the first time since 2009.
Back then, our youngsters overcame Liverpool 6-2 on aggregate to claim the silverware at Anfield, with 12 players going on to make it into our first-team while others enjoyed careers further down the Football League pyramid and are still going strong today at home and abroad.
We've taken a look at how the careers of those players who played their part in the final panned out:
james shea
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Our goalkeeper went on two loan spells before leaving permanently in 2013. After short stints at Needham Market and Harrow Borough in non-league, he joined AFC Wimbledon and made 112 appearances across the lower EFL divisions, before switching to Luton Town and achieving promotion to the Championship and then the Premier League. He’s still part of the squad at Kenilworth Road.
craig eastmond
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Craig would make 10 first-team appearances for us before moving to Colchester United in 2013, and has since played hundreds of matches in the EFL and National League. Craig's longest spell at one club so far was at Sutton United, where he made over 300 appearances in nine years. In between, he represented Colchester, Wycombe Wanderers, Millwall and Yeovil Town. At the start of 2025/26, Craig joined non-league side, Eastbourne Borough.
Thomas Cruise
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Thomas played the entirety of our 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage match against Olympiacos in his one and only senior appearance for the club. In 2012 he began a three-year spell at Torquay United, where he played 64 times. He also made eight appearances for Carlisle United. Following his retirement from the game in 2016, Thomas kick-started a new career as an accountant.
Kyle Bartley
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Kyle's only game also came against Olympiacos in December 2009 but he would enjoy a successful career across the top leagues in England and Scotland. During his time in N5, he went on loan to Sheffield United and Rangers before joining Swansea City in 2012. After loans at Birmingham City and Leeds United, Kyle settled at West Bromwich Albion, where he has played over 230 times across the Premier League and Championship before retiring in 2025.
Cedric Evina
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Cedric started both games against Liverpool from the bench, and although he didn’t manage to make an appearance for our senior side, he did go on to have a solid career in the EFL which included promotion to the Championship with Charlton Athletic in 2012. He also featured for Oldham Athletic, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town and Notts County.
Francis Coquelin
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Francis had already debuted for our first-team before the Youth Cup win, and he went on to have season-long loan spells with Lorient, SC Freiburg and Charlton before becoming a regular starter in Arsene Wenger’s squad - going on to make 160 appearances for the Gunners.
He helped us win the FA Cup in 2015 and 2017, as well as our 2015 Community Shield triumph, before leaving the club after 10 years to join Valencia. There, he won a Copa Del Rey title before switching allegiances to Villarreal and becoming a UEFA Europa League champion in 2021. He departed Spain in 2024 for France, joining Ligue 1 side Nantes at the start of the 2025/26 campaign.
Luke Ayling
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Despite never pulling on our colours for first-team duty, Luke was a regular face in the opposition line-up at Emirates Stadium with Leeds United. He joined the then-Championship side from Bristol City in 2016 and made 268 appearances, with nearly 100 of those coming in the top-flight after he helped the club achieve promotion alongside Ben White in 2020. Luke then moved to Middlesbrough in 2024.
Henri Lansbury
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Henri featured for the first-team eight times - including four prior to the Youth Cup success - before leaving the club in 2012 following a string of loan spells. First, he joined Nottingham Forest, where he made 150 appearances in five years between 2012 and 2017, before arriving at Aston Villa. After four years he joined Bristol City on a short-term contract, before swiftly moving on to Luton Town where he retired in 2023.
Jack Wilshere
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Regarded as one of the finest English talents of his generation, Jack earned 34 caps for England during his 10 years as a player at Emirates Stadium, which saw him play 197 times for us under Wenger’s stewardship. He was the club’s youngest debutant at 16 years and 256 days old - a record now held by Max Dowman.
He was a part of the side that won the FA Cup in both 2014 and 2015 before departing the club in 2018 to join West Ham United. Unfortunately, Jack struggled with injuries and called time on his playing days aged 30. After a successful stint as our youth team coach, Jack now manages League One side Luton Town, his first full-time head coach position.
Oguzhan Ozyakup
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Oguzhan is one of 10 of our Youth Cup winners that went on to play for their country; representing Turkey during a decade-long spell at Besiktas, which spanned 310 appearances and yield three league titles. Having featured twice for our first-team, he won his first of 43 caps in 2013 and was an integral part of their Euro 2016 squad. He has captained Turkey six times and currently played Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie before retiring in 2024.
Emmanuel Frimpong
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The Ghanaian international played for our first-team 16 times and represented us in the Premier League and Champions League. He went on loan spells to Wolves, Charlton Athletic and Fulham before he left us permanently to join Barnsley in 2014. Two years later, he was featuring for Arsenal again - but not us. He joined FC Arsenal Tula during a one-year spell in Russia, before going on to play in Sweden and Cyprus.
Conor Henderson
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Conor was with us until 2013 and made a solitary first-team appearance against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, but spent the majority of his time out on loan. He had permanent spells at Hull City, Crawley Town, Grimsby Town and Eastbourne before joining Pirin Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria in 2017. He briefly played in the Romanian league in 2019 but returned to Bulgaria where he settled until 2022.
Gilles Sunu
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After playing twice for our first-team, Gilles is one of the few players that ventured abroad following his separation from the club in 2011 and joined Lorient. He stuck with France after parting ways with them and played for Evian and Angers before moving to Turkish club Erzurumspor. He later returned to France, where he represented hometown team Chateauroux in the third tier until retiring in 2023.
Sanchez Watt
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On our way to victory in 2009, Sanchez scored a brace in the semi-final before netting in both legs of the final against Liverpool. A promising young talent, he scored against West Bromwich Albion on his Arsenal debut in one of three League Cup appearances before going on to represent nine clubs in the wake of his Gunners career. That included two years at Colchester United, a spell at Crawley Town, and most recently Wealdstone, where he retired in 2020.
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
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Jay captained the 2009 Youth Cup side at 16 years old, scoring in every round of the competition. He made his first-team debut in an FA Cup third-round tie against Stoke City in 2010, before leaving for Ipswich Town a year later. He made 71 appearances there before joining Bristol City, where he helped the club secure promotion to the Championship.
After netting 33 goals in 103 games for the Robins, a transfer to QPR followed. In 2019, he moved to Thailand, where he played for PTT Rayong, before a two-year stint in Scotland for Livingston and Aberdeen, until he relocated to India, to represent Jamshedpur. Jay now plays for Braintree Town in the National League, having joined from AFC Totton in November 2025.
Rhys Murphy
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Rhys had a goal controversially ruled out during our first leg at Anfield, but luckily it wouldn’t affect the outcome. He left north London in 2012 and has played for 14 clubs since, including Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge, Chelmsford City and Telstar in Holland. Rhys currently plays for Horsham in the National League South.
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