Arsenal have reportedly broken the League of Ireland transfer record by agreeing a €2m deal with Shamrock Rovers for 16 year old Victor Ozhianvuna.
The Irish Independent and the The Times report that the left-sided midfielder will join the Gunners when he turns 18 in January 2027 – Brexit regulations (stupid regulations to put it another way) make it more complicated for Irish players, who now cannot move to England until they reach that age.
Ozhianvuna, who is from the Dublin suburb of Tallaght – home to Katie McCabe – has a Nigerian father and a Russian mother, and Arsenal have reportedly been monitoring his progress since Shamrock Rovers U14s performed well at a tournament at Hale End in 2023.
The Arsenal team in that competition included a certain Max Dowman who made his senior debut in today’s 5-0 win over Leeds, and won a penalty which Viktor Gyokeres converted.
Rovers are currently managed by Stephen Bradley, a former Arsenal youth player who didn’t make the breakthrough when he moved from Dublin to London, but who was brought to the club by Liam Brady who fended off advances from Alex Ferguson at that time.
It’s been too long since we had an Irish Arsenal first team player, so while this is still something for the future, let’s hope he can follow in the footsteps of some of our green greats.