Under-18s head coach Adam Birchall cannot wait for the new campaign to get underway and is excited to see our hard work in pre-season put into practice.
Our young guns begin with a trip to Norwich City this weekend, following a busy pre-season schedule for our academy.
Eight academy stars, including three of our under-18s, went on the pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Singapore, meaning a host of younger stars got the opportunity to play at the under-21 level this summer, something which Adam was delighted to see.
"It's been a really good pre-season," Adam told Arsenal.com. "The players have been stretched and played at different age groups. We've had lads go with the first team, which is always what we want; they want to be pushed and challenged.
“They want to see what that next level feels like and it helps with their development during the season. The knock-on effect with players going to the first team means we've also been able to get some under-16s up into the under-18s for training and matches, which is a great experience for them.
“Obviously, as well within this fixture programme, we've played against a lot of men's teams as well, which has been introducing the players to men's football maybe a little bit earlier, and getting them this experience during pre-season is a big step. So overall, it's been a really good pre-season and we're looking forward to see what the season holds.”
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Our under-18s side faced AFC Bournemouth U18, Dover Athletic, Hannover U17s, Potters Bar Town before rounding off the pre-season with a 4-0 victory over Newcastle United U18 ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Birchall spotted many positives throughout the warm-up games, praising the mentality of all his players and the maturity shown by our first-year scholars, who are stepping up to the Sobha Realty Training Centre from Hale End.
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He said: “I was really pleased with, was the mentality of the first years and the second years together. They had a togetherness about the way they played and a real purpose too. In pre-season, you don't look too much into results.
“We wanted to build towards the end of pre-season, we had a good result against Newcastle, but that was a result of seeing the players’ mentality through training and games throughout, whether they're playing u21s or u18s football.
"That, for me, is a big starting point because they should be showing that drive, which isn’t always a given. So, I've been really pleased with the mentality of the players.
“I can’t wait for the start of the season, we've been training really hard, and it's brilliant to test everyone now. It's great to get the season started and that's where we can really push on, so super excited.”
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