Gedion Zelalem leaves Arsenal for Holland on loan but questions remain about his long-term future

Three years and one week ago today, Gedion Zelalem made his Arsenal debut. He was still just 16 years old and hailed as one of the most exciting players to emerge out of the club for a generation. Famously described as “dribbling like Andres Iniesta and passing like Xavi” by a former coach, he looked like he would be overtaking players far older than him on his way into the Arsenal first team.

But this week, three years on, Zelalem is heading to the Dutch second division to play the second half of his season at VVV Venlo. It is not a loan move that inspires much confidence in his future. He spent last season with Rangers in the Scottish Championship, where he started 22 matches and showed glimpses of how good he can be. But this is a sideways move after that, when he should be heading upwards.

Zelalem’s natural talent has always been obvious but he has not made the physical development that Arsenal were hoping for. Arsene Wenger admitted last week that his prodigy had not matured as quickly as was planned and said that Zelalem was “a little bit behind on body structure”. Of course central midfielders can afford to be small but Zelalem looks skinny in a way that might not survive the engine rooms of Premier League midfields.

But Arsenal certainly still have faith in Zelalem to come good. That is why they offered him a new contract to keep him out of the hands of Borussia Dortmund. Zelalem was born in Germany and Dortmund wanted to take him back there on a free transfer but Wenger extended Zelalem’s contract, in the hope that he would be a better player next season than he is right now. What Zelalem does have is the in-built advantage of the early starter. He has only just turned 20 and plenty of players do not make their serious breakthrough until they are in their 20s.

What the Zelalem story shows is what a long path it is, and how the most successful examples, such as Alex Iwobi and Hector Bellerin, are the most unusual examples, not cases that can be easily followed. Zelalem is still one of the most talented players Arsenal have in their system. That is why Matt Pilkington, coach of his boys team Olney Rangers in Washington DC, emailed Arsenal’s USA scout Danny Karbassiyoon about him back in 2010.

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Crucially Zelalem had an EU passport having been born in Germany, which meant that Arsenal did not have to wait until he was 18 before bringing him over. He had a technical ability and way of wriggling out of tight spaces that was unfamiliar to young American players. “I hadn’t seen that in players in the US,” Karbassiyoon told The Independent last year. “His intelligence and awareness were on another level.”

Zelalem was only 14 when he had a two-week trial at Arsenal in the summer of 2011, and he trained with the under-16s, under-18s and even the reserves. So in January 2013, when Zelalem turned 16, he signed as a scholar with a professional deal to follow. He is still a professional at Arsenal and Wenger is desperate for him to make a success there. But he also knows that 2017 has to be better than 2016.