Having travelled with several of his under-21 squad to Dubai for our warm-weather training camp, Mehmet Ali believes it has been a strong learning experience for the youngsters to be in a close overseas working environment with the first-team coaches.
As well as this term’s breakout stars Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, goalkeepers Tommy Setford and Jack Porter are on the trip having made their Gunners debuts this season during our run to the League Cup semi-finals, while Josh Nichols, Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji have also travelled having also played for Mikel Arteta’s first-team this term.
Another player with a taste of first-team experience is Charles Sagoe Jr and he was selected after spending the first half of the season on loan at Shrewsbury Town, while Max Dowman, Jack Henry-Francis and Michal Rosiak were also picked to head to the Gulf.
Mehmet feels that the experience of spending plenty of time on and off the pitch with our star-studded squad will provide plenty of benefits for the young contingent.
“It’s different for different players,” Mehmet explained. “You’ve got some of the younger ones who are coming for the first time, getting a feel for what it takes to be an Arsenal first-team player, and then you’ve got some of the older lads who have been in and around supporting them before.
“Ultimately, it’s about these guys coming to Dubai and trying to absorb as much information as they can from Mikel, all of the first team staff and of course all of the players. It’s about learning, developing and facilitating the first-team.
“It’s an invaluable experience. I always feel when you’re away in a 24-hour setting with the first-team, it’s like three months of development in a week simply because you’re picking up so much information subconsciously and consciously. They’re picking up so many things on and off the pitch, so it’s a privilege for these boys and myself to be out here.”
Press play on the video above to hear all of Mehmet's thoughts.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.