Player profile: Salah Oulad M’Hand

Player profile: Salah Oulad M’Hand

By Jonny Bray
Salah Oulad M'Hand is an 18-year-old midfielder with a bright future at the Emirates.
Despite his incredible potential, he remains a bit of an unknown entity in North London, even though he's already been included in first-team squads this season.
He's yet to make his senior first-team debut, but the fact that Mikel Arteta gave him the opportunity to travel with the squad to Leeds and Nottingham Forest indicates that he's firmly in the Spaniard's plans.
Oulad M'Hand is part of a very exciting generation of Arsenal academy products, and it's made even more exciting by seeing how well the current crop of academy prospects are doing.
With Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka ripping it up for Arsenal while players like Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles are doing well at new clubs, there's never been a more exciting time to be coming through the academy in North London.

What has his career been like so far?

Despite not yet making his senior debut, the young midfielder has already had quite an interesting set of experiences in professional football.
He started his career at Dutch giants Feyenoord where he was part of the Youth, U17s, and U19s set up before departing due to disagreements with the club.
After six months without a club, he joined the Gunners, but he still arrived with a big reputation.
There were reports at the time of a disagreement between the player and his former club over his first team opportunities.
So he didn't leave Holland because he wasn't good enough, and it sounds like Feyenoord weren't too happy to let him go.
But their loss is Arsenal's gain, and if he develops to become the player we think he can, it may end up being some of the best business in the club's history.
Since his arrival, he's looked outstanding with Arsenal's U23 side and has shown just what he can do in the future if given an opportunity in the first team.

What could he bring?

First thing's first, he's energetic.
He covers every blade of grass and never stops proving a pain for the opposition when out of possession.
But unlike say N'Golo Kanté, who combines that with an incredible defensive brain, Oulad M'Hand uses his energy to win back the ball and immediately looks to play it forward.
He's creative, with an excellent short pass on both feet and a great first touch.
If you were to compare him to anyone in the Premier League at the moment, it would be Conor Gallagher, and hopefully, he can add goals to his game like the English midfielder has.

Will he break into the first team?

Midfield is a tough position to break into at Arsenal as things stand.
Some of our best players are in the middle of the park, so Oulad M'Hand will have quite the job on his hands if he wants to displace Smith Rowe and Martin Ødegaard.But if any of Arsenal's academy prospects can, it'll be him.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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