The Arsenal Academy today announced the signing of Salah Eddine Oulad M’Hand, known as Salah-Eddine or Salah. 

The Dutchman was a free agent and is another indication of the new recruitment strategy being helmed by Per Mertesacker and Edu. 

Salah had previously played in the Feyenoord academy team and had previously been linked with Jong Ajax prior to completing the move. Salah will join Arsenal as a Professional Development Phase player.

Salah describes himself as a central midfielder who likes to play box-to-box, something the Arsenal senior side could do with, so we may see Salah in the Arsenal first-team at some point in the next few years.

Following the departure of Steve Morrow, Arsenal’s Academy talent identification has seen a major overhaul, with the club now favouring to spot talent that has fallen through the cracks elsewhere, which has also seen the likes of Tim Akinola and Jonathan Dinzeyi join the club, as well as the very well-talked about signing of George Lewis.

With the oncoming uncertainty surrounding Brexit, there is set to be a change in the rules of how clubs can approach youngsters to play for their senior or academy teams, which is why Arsenal have looked to sign a number of the aforementioned players so early on. 

The youngster has said that his main goals for the season are to perform well for the U23s side, before potentially joining up with the first-team for sporadic training, if the opportunity arises. 

Salah has already been participating in U23s training at London Colney, under the supervision of Steve Bould and was previously a trialist with the club, though the club wanted to wait until Salah turned seventeen before signing him to a contract.