What do we know about teenage 'wonderkid' Amani Richards?

Amani Richards

What do we know about teenage 'wonderkid' Amani Richards, the 16-year-old striker Arsenal have signed from Chelsea?

By Matt Wright 

Arsenal's technical director Edu allowed the Gunners to steal a march on the vaunted Chelsea academy with the signing of teenage striker Amani Richards last week.

So, what do we know about the 16-year-old, who has already been dubbed a 'wonderkid?'

Well, for a start, he is now playing for his boyhood team after making the move across London.

In revealing that he was heading to the Emirates Stadium on his Instagram page, Richards said: "Signing for Arsenal, my boyhood club, it’s just a great thing.

“It’s a club that everyone in my family supports. Everyone around me supports Arsenal.

“I mean I always wanted it to happen eventually, but it happening now is just a great thing. Just really, really excited to get going.”

The way he announced he was joining his idols suggests he has a flair for the dramatic, with his Instagram post featuring a video that was voiced over by himself and featured him unzipping his jacket to reveal the famous red shirt.

Richards' talent has already caught the attention of youth coaches at the FA, who selected him in England's under-16 squad.

While he was with the young Lions, Richards may well have got the low-down on what life in the Arsenal academy was like from future teammates Zach Awe [Pictured below] and Brooke Norton-Cuffy.

Zach Awe

Given his age, it's likely it's going to be a while until we see Richards pushing for a first-team spot under Mikel Arteta, but at Chelsea he was deemed good enough to be skipped ahead to their under-18 team.

That means we're likely to see him spend his formative months at Arsenal at the same level, where there is still plenty to play for this season.

Meanwhile, the seventh-placed Gunners have games in hand on the teams above them in the southern section of the U18 Premier League, which includes his old club.

Richards is not the first teenager to swap West London for North London in recent times, with Jason Sraha making the same move from Chelsea in 2019, following in the footsteps of Eddie Nketiah, who did likewise in 2015.

The lure of playing for Arsenal's youth team also persuaded Jonathan Dinzeyi to make the switch from our old enemies Tottenham last year.

Arsenal's academy has borne fruit in recent years and there are some promising attackers in the under-18s, including Nathan Butler-Oyedeji and Omari Hutchinson, who Richards will have to compete with in the youth team.

The success of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe this season shows that there is a pathway to the first team at the Emirates Stadium, something that cannot always be said about Chelsea, which may also have been a factor in Richards' decision to move across the capital.

Although Nketiah hasn't really progressed in the way we all hoped this season, there is still time for him to make the Blues to regret losing him and, who knows, Richards may yet do the same.

Photo Credit: Getty Images


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