football.london spoke exclusively to Georgia Under-21s head coach Ramaz Svanadze regarding Arsenal's new Georgian wonderkid signing Andria Bartishvili
Arsenal have landed one of Georgia's exciting wonderkids Andria Bartishvili and spoke exclusively to Georgia Under-21s head coach Ramaz Svanadze
Arsenal have landed one of Georgia's exciting wonderkids Andria Bartishvili and spoke exclusively to Georgia Under-21s head coach Ramaz Svanadze(Image: Lasha Kuprashvili | Georgian Football Federation, Christian Hofer - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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Arsenal have secured the services of Georgian wonderkid Andria Bartishvili in a deal worth around £4million. The 17-year-old completed a medical at the Sobha Realty Training Centre last week, and the announcement of his arrival will be made in time, with the player joining the club next summer after he turns 18.
The Gunners have put a huge amount of emphasis on finding some of the globe’s top stars in the past two years. Irish youth international Victor Ozhianvuna will arrive in January from Shamrock Rovers, while Holger and Edwin Quintero will join Bartishvili at the club in the summer of 2026 following their roughly £9million move from Ecuadorian side Independiente.
The work extends to a hierarchical level too, with the introduction of new Academy Director Pascal de Maesschalck, who replaced Per Mertesacker and has been working this summer with sporting director Andrea Berta and the recently appointed men's Technical Director Maurizio Micheli.
Arsenal Sporting Director Andrea Berta and Men's Technical Director Maurizio Micheli have been looking to add young talent to the club
Arsenal Sporting Director Andrea Berta and Men's Technical Director Maurizio Micheli have been looking to add young talent to the club(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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The Italian was credited with helping Napoli find some of their best talents while there, including another Georgian, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The now Paris Saint-Germain winger is among the best in the World and helped Georgia enjoy great success at Euro 2024 when they progressed out of the group stage, aided by a 2-0 win over then defending European champions Portugal.
With Bartishvili considered the next star of the continuing evolution and improvement of Georgian football, football.london spoke exclusively to their under-21s head coach Ramaz Svanadze. But the story which led to the rise of Kvaratskhelia and provided the greater foundation for Bartishvili to flourish and eventually earn this move to Arsenal, has origins from more than a decade ago.
“Improving the infrastructure was a must, an absolute prerequisite for developing Georgian football because prior to 2016, when Mr Giorgi Kvirikashvili won the elections, the infrastructure in Georgia was in a very poor state,” Svanadze explained. “That hampered obviously the youth development in particular, because to allow children to fully develop and fully realise their talent, you absolutely need to have adequate infrastructure, pitches, training facilities, etc. And that's what these projects were supposed to serve.
“More generally, the growth of youth football, the increase in the numbers of young people playing football in the country, all of that is now quantifiable. Have a look at the recent results, the strategies, the numbers that they are, the increase has been almost fivefold in the number of young people who are now playing football in Georgia.”
Ramaz Svanadze is the head coach of Georgia's under-21, helping coach players like Andria Bartishvili
Ramaz Svanadze is the head coach of Georgia's under-21, helping coach players like Andria Bartishvili(Image: Georgian Football Federation)
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Only 15 when Georgia would rock the continent at Euro 2024, Bartishvili watched on, and he was not even born when the Soviet national teams, of which many Georgian players of the time were a part of, were active.
Famously, FC Dinamo Tbilisi won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981, a trophy Arsenal would not lift until 1994, 13 years later. But Svanadze particularly highlighted some of the key steps before Euro 2024 as critical to the nation’s modern revival in the sport.
“Euro 2023, which we hosted, the under-21 Euros. That was an invaluable experience both for the coaches and for the players, and a very important milestone in the development of youth football in Georgia, in particular,” Svanadze stated.
So when the European championships came with a competitive side ready to take on the giants of the game, what followed inspired a nation. Where before idols had come from outside, Georgia now had its own heroes who could inspire.
“It allowed young people to personally experience something that they were previously only watching on television and only experiencing through other teams, watching other teams play there, and for Georgia to qualify, a lot of people went to the games, for others, pretty much the whole country, watching on television.
He added: “It wasn't just the performance of the team in itself, but that tournament allowed new role models and new stars of Georgian football to establish themselves internationally and make a name for themselves. Obviously, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was already on a trajectory towards becoming the player that he is today, but also other players like Giorgi Mamardashvili, now at Liverpool, and Georges Mikautadze now at Villarreal.
“The Euros helped them a lot with their careers and made them role models and stars that now Georgian kids want to emulate. So all of a sudden, they don't have to strive to be a Brazilian player or a German star player or whatever; they can now want to be the new Kvaratskhelia or the new Mamardashvili!”
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia left winger of Georgia and SSC Napoli celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the UEFA EURO 2024 group stage match between Georgia and Portugal
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia left winger of Georgia and SSC Napoli celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the UEFA EURO 2024 group stage match between Georgia and Portugal(Image: Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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One such player already making his waves at youth levels was, of course, Bartishvili. He had been a product of the famous Dinamo Tbilisi youth academy, winning accolades in brackets as young as under-10 and under-11, often credited with player-of-the-tournament awards.
He has since moved to FC Kolkheti-1913 Poti and spent this year on loan with Iberia 1999, where he has experienced senior European football, in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers and subsequently UEFA Europa League qualifiers.
Iberia will play now in the UEFA Conference League for this season, with Bartishvili able to play against notable European sides like Getafe, Red Star Belgrade and FC Copenhagen. He has made just two appearances for Svanadze’s Georgia under-21s side, but his stock has been highly appreciated for many years preceding his entrance into Svanadze’s squad.
“Even though he has only been called up [to the under-21s] a couple of times, obviously we have been keeping tabs on him since early childhood,” Svanadze explained. “So we have all kinds of information, stats, and psychological profiles on every talent since before I was under-15.
“So all the coaches within the Georgia national team set up know him very well. And we know what a special talent he is and what he can do on the pitch.
“He's somebody who can make a real difference on the pitch. And he's got the individual ball skills that are becoming increasingly rare in modern football, somebody who wants to pick the ball, take players on, use his technical dribbling skills very much like Kvaratskhelia himself.
“He’s got that ability. He's got the mental and emotional profile that will allow him to achieve success. He never really cared who he was playing against, what level team he was playing against, no, just give him the ball and let him do his thing. That's always been kind of his approach.
Andria Bartishvili has been making waves at youth levels with the Georgian national side
Andria Bartishvili has been making waves at youth levels with the Georgian national side(Image: Lasha Kuprashvili | Georgian Football Federation)
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“At the same time, he's got to realise that the transition into senior modern football, and especially English football, which is the highest level, is a very big step to make and requires a lot of effort and a lot of dedication. So in order for his development to proceed as planned, his approach has to be spot on.
“I believe that he's got every chance and every opportunity to really show himself at the highest level, because that's exactly what he wants to do. He wants to play at the very highest level for Arsenal's senior team. And obviously, a lot of players want that, but he's also got the talent and the mental profile, the mentality to do it if he continues on this path.
“The high intensity that characterises the English football, I mean, that's something that they will have to adapt to. That's going to be the biggest challenge for him.”
Players can sometimes get lost making huge steps up in the game, especially from outside of Europe’s top five leagues. There might be many amazing stories, such as Kvaratskhelia’s, who also started at Dinamo Tbilisi, but even he would move to Russia first to play for Lokomotiv Moscow and Rubin Kazan before then taking the step to Serie A side Napoli and finally PSG.
Bartishvili is jumping from Georgia to Arsenal, where he will train at 18 years old with some of the best players in the world, the champions of England, potentially for a second successive season by next summer.
He will be vying, as an attacking midfielder, with Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze at the senior level, but even younger players like Ethan Nwaneri or Max Dowman will offer Bartishvili serious competition for minutes.
As mentioned at the top, he is not the only talented youngster arriving at Arsenal next summer either. Plus, there are always other Hale End starlets pushing for promotion in the senior setup.
After an investment of around £4million, however, it is evident just how highly-rated the Gunners feel Bartishvili is. football.london understands they have beaten other top Premier League sides, such as Liverpool, to his signature.
Andria Bartishvili will join Arsenal in the summer of 2027
Andria Bartishvili will join Arsenal in the summer of 2027(Image: Levan Verdzeuli/Getty Images)
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Svanadze believes that Bartishvili has the makings of a player that justified making this choice.
“Well, needless to say, the difference between Georgian football and England is massive,” Svanadze said. “Not just Georgian football, but England is a very specific footballing world in terms of the style of football and the intensity with which the football is played in England. That sets it apart from most leagues in Europe.
“We've got plenty of examples of young talents making that huge leap and then becoming somewhat lost and not realising their ambitions to the full extent. But at the end of the day, when you've got a club like Arsenal making you an offer, then it's very difficult to say no.
“But it's a question of the players' talent and ambition. And Andria has both of them in abundance. So, he's decided that this would be the right step for him.
“And now the planning and the effort are required to allow him to make that transition into senior football when he becomes of age. And it's all going to be dependent on him, on how he will conduct himself on and off the pitch.
“That's very important that he now adapts himself to the life of a professional football player properly. And if he does do that, then he's got all the prerequisites to be successful.”
Fans could expect to see Bartishvili in the red and white shirt in less than a year’s time if given a chance to feature in Arsenal’s pre-season, which is expected again to be a more traditional international tour compared to the streamlined European excursion following this summer’s World Cup. Excitement is growing around the Gunners’ acquisitions, and Bartishvili will no doubt be a headline act of this evolution.