Arsenal complete out-of-window transfer for prolific Liverpool striker as Berta finalises SIXTH big youth signing

Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has continued his quest to build for the Gunners’ future by finalising the signing of Vincent Joseph from Liverpool – and the exciting 16-year-old striker is the latest of six outstanding youth-team deals the Premier League champions have completed in a matter of weeks.

The prolific teenager moves to the north London side on an initial first-year scholarship deal and will initially link up with the club’s academy, which is expertly overseen by director Pascal De Maeschalck and manager Per Mertesacker.

Along with head of academy coaching, Luke Hobbs, the trio are responsible for the development of the Gunners’ bright young talents, such as Max Dowman, who has already racked up 14 senior appearances for the club despite not turning 17 until New Year’s Eve.

Now Joseph, who has left Liverpool for the move down south, will hope his development will be equally as rapid while with the Gunners after he earned an impressive reputation as being one of the country’s leading young goalscoring talents of his age group.

Arsenal confirmed the signing of the ‘brilliant’ striker in a statement on their official website, offering the player the warmest of welcomes.

Indeed, after harnessing his talents with the Liverpool academy over the last nine years, Joseph has already played above his age group by becoming a regular with the Reds’ Under-18s, scoring three times across two appearances at that level.

Furthermore, Joseph has also notched an impressive eight goals and an assist across nine appearances for England’s Under-16s, another stat that has showcased his enormous promise.

Now Arsenal will hope he becomes the next superstar to break through with the Gunners, though it may be some time before he is considered first-team ready.

Nonetheless, Joseph joins an Arsenal academy that has also recently added five other hugely promising stars to its ranks, with Berta very much building for the future.

And in addition to Joseph, Berta also recently added Mylo Bernard, who was poached from Crystal Palace, while Polish youngster Axel Donczew also arrived from Cardiff City.

Arsenal also recently signed James Scanlon and Habeeb Ogunneye in high-profile youth deals from rivals Manchester United.

Perhaps the biggest signing of all, though, for their academy was the recent capture of a Georgian attacker, whom Fabrizio Romano is expecting really big things from and recently compared to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia…

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Romano gushes over Arsenal signing of Bartishvili

Indeed, it was revealed last week that Arsenal have reached a pre-contract agreement to sign 17-year-old Andria Bartishvili, who will move to London when he turns 18 and under the terms of British employment laws.

Speaking last week, Romano said of Bartishvili: To complete our London tour in terms of signings, there’s Andria Bartishvili, this 17-year-old Georgian talent,” he said.

“In Georgia, those who follow football and know things in the industry say that they haven’t seen another talent with this kind of quality and potential since Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Bartishvili is seen as a huge, huge talent.

“There were many proposals from other English clubs and from German clubs for Bartishvili. Arsenal won the race.

“The boy was in London last week to complete many tests and sign the contract. Today, there was the announcement: Bartishvili is a new Arsenal player. Everything confirmed. The ‘here we go’ from two weeks ago is now in place and confirmed.”

“For Bartishvili, it’s a big opportunity. A big opportunity because Arsenal are going to sign him for 2027, not for now, because the player has to turn 18 and then join Arsenal.

“But the boy believes that Arsenal are the right club for him as a winger, where he can develop, so there is big excitement at Arsenal. They believe they have signed a really talented boy.

“Obviously, English football is not Georgian football. Arsenal, with all due respect, are not a Georgian club. So the pressure is completely different. You will need to deliver at the highest level. But Arsenal are very happy with their signing.”

Berta’s next immediate priority will be to announce a contract extension for boss Mikel Arteta, while sources can reveal that three other vital Arsenal stars are also set to sign on the dotted line, with talks advancing on contract extensions.