Andria Bartishvili cannot even move to England until next year but Arsenal are already increasingly confident anyway. While Bayern made a project pitch, it wasn’t enough.
While most of the football world is focused on the big-name attacking pursuits, Christos Tzolis, Gibbs-White, Vinicius Jr, Arsenal’s recruitment department has been quietly closing in on a 17-year-old in Georgia who almost nobody outside the Caucasus had heard of six months ago. His name is Andria Bartishvili. Local media in Georgia have already given him the nickname that follows every gifted attacking talent from that country: “the next Kvaratskhelia.”
According to fresh reporting on June 19, Arsenal have sent in an improved offer worth around five million euros, and the expectation within the club is that Bartishvili will accept it if Arsenal and his current club FC Kolkheti can reach an agreement. Bayern Munich also presented a project to the player but their bid was lower than Arsenal’s. For a 17-year-old who cannot even move to England for another nine months, this is an extraordinarily serious pursuit.
Who is Andria Bartishvili? The Georgian wonderkid being compared to a Champions League winner
Bartishvili was born on March 30, 2009 and came through the academy at Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia’s biggest club, before failing to break into their first team. He moved to Kolkheti 1913 on a free transfer at the start of 2025, made his senior debut as a substitute that March, and went on to make 20 appearances and register his first assist before the club decided he needed regular first-team minutes elsewhere. He was loaned out to Iberia 1999 in January 2026, where he helped the club finish second in the Georgian top flight, missing out on the title by a single point.
He is primarily an attacking midfielder, though he has been deployed across the front line, including out wide. Standing at 5ft 7in, he is not a physically imposing player his game is built on technical quality, vision and the kind of close control that has drawn the Kvaratskhelia comparisons from Georgian media. He scored a brace against Kazakhstan at Under-17 level in 2025 and has progressed rapidly through Georgia’s youth international setup, representing the country at Under-16, Under-17, Under-19 and now Under-21 level despite still being a teenager.
The Kvaratskhelia comparison
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Local Georgian media nicknamed him “the new Kvaratskhelia” following a standout individual display at an international youth tournament.
The comparison is more about style and nationality than guaranteed outcome, Bartishvili is considered more of a number ten than a winger, although he has shown the same close control and dribbling instincts that made Khvicha Kvaratskhelia a global star at Napoli and PSG.
Georgian football is producing serious talent right now, and Bartishvili is the latest name being talked about as the country’s next major export.
Why he won’t be at Arsenal for another year and why that doesn’t matter
This is the part of the deal that makes it most distinctly an Andrea Berta operation. Arsenal are not signing a player to play next season. They are signing a 17-year-old who will remain in Georgian football, developing and gaining first-team experience, until he turns 18 in March 2027 and becomes eligible for a UK work permit.
At a reported fee in the region of five million euros, this is a low-risk, high-upside bet typical of Berta’s recruitment philosophy.
Compare it to the noise around Tzolis at £35 million or Bouaddi in the tens of millions, Bartishvili represents the opposite end of Arsenal’s transfer strategy this summer: spend big on proven, near-finished talents, and spend small on the rawest, highest-ceiling teenagers across Europe before anyone else properly notices them.
Arteta & Berta leading charge to a young Arsenal
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That last detail is the one worth paying closest attention to. Bartishvili is not an isolated pursuit. Arsenal, under Berta, are running a deliberate, parallel scouting operation across multiple continents: Georgia, France with Bouaddi, Belgium with Tzolis, England with Monga, Italy with Pio Esposito.
The club’s recruitment strategy this summer is not built around one marquee name. It is built around identifying the best 16-to-19-year-old talent in as many markets as possible, before the price tags inflate and before the bigger spenders in Munich, Paris and Manchester wake up to who these players are.
Author Opinion
Five million euros for a player being compared to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, with Bayern Munich already priced out of the race, is the kind of deal that either looks extremely smart in three years or quietly disappears into the academy without much fuss. Either way, it costs Arsenal very little to find out.
Berta’s strategy this summer is increasingly clear: spend the big money on proven Premier League quality, and spend pocket change on the next generation of Georgian, French, Belgian and English wonderkids before anyone else realises what they have.
Bartishvili is the smallest deal Arsenal will do this summer. He might end up being one of the best.
Related Items:Andrea Berta, Andria Bartishvili
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