Arsenal academy graduate's new boss responds with extraordinary reply - as fans pile on pressure to start youngster

Arsenal's resurgence as bona fide title contenders has seen the club able to attract a higher calibre of players in recent transfer windows.

This summer saw the club sign one of Italy's best young defenders in Riccardo Calafiori, while Mikel Merino arrived at the club after winning Euro 2024 with Spain this summer.

But with every world-class talent that the club brings in, it takes away a first-team squad place for one of the club's youngsters, with the Gunners cutting ties with a number of the talented prospects that came through their Hale End academy this summer.

Deportivo fans call for former Arsenal Charlie Patino to start… but the manager doesn't agree

Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah were the most high-profile homegrown players to move on this summer, with that pair able to secure big-money Premier League transfers.

Midfielder Charlie Patino never quite got the first team exposure of that aforementioned pair did at the Emirates, instead embarking on loan spells at Blackpool and Swansea City over the past two seasons.

While he was able to build up a reputation as promising ball-playing midfielder at that level, his chances of breaking into the Gunners first-team appeared slim. The 20-year-old decided to move on this summer, joining Spanish second tier side Deportivo de La Coruna in a move worth £1million.

That marked the end of a nine-year spell at Arsenal , during which time he featured for the club's under-18s side at the age of 14 and made a senior debut in December 2021, when he came off the bench in an EFL Cup quarter-final win over Sunderland, scoring the final goal in a 5-1 thrashing.

Patino's Spanish adventure has got off to a slow start so far, with the England under-21 international an unused substitute in Depor's last four games. The team sit 19th in the embryonic Segunda Division table after winning just one game so far this term, with fans calling for the Englishman to be given a chance in the starting line-up.

Manager Imanol Idiakez has addressed these calls, giving them the short shrift, amid a report in La Voz de Galicia which said the youngster was adapting to life abroad and still learning the language.

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“I would like to know how many of Charlie’s games the people who ask for him have seen," he told the press. "He is a good player, but he has changed countries, situation.”

In FourFourTwo's view, this is completely understandable and nothing that should concern Patino too much. At 20 years old, Patino still has plenty of time to adapt to a new country and integrate himself into the Depor first-team.