Arsenal 17yo makes u21 international debut | OneFootball

Arsenal 17-year-old Ceadach O’Neill made his debut for the Northern Ireland u21s on Tuesday, coming on as a substitute against Georgia.

Photo via O’Neill on Instagram

Arsenal teenager Ceadach O’Neill has made significant forward steps in the early parts of the 2025/26 campaign, and he capped that positive start with his Northern Ireland u21 debut on Tuesday evening.

O’Neill received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland u21s for the September international break, and he came off the bench in a 1-1 draw against Georgia this midweek.

The Arsenal academy player only got around 10 minutes on the pitch, and the draw wasn’t the ideal start to the team’s qualification campaign. But for O’Neill himself, it’s another sign of the high regard in which he’s held by his coaches for club and country.

Photo via O’Neill on Instagram

After signing his first professional contract with the club in April, O’Neill made the ideal start to the new season by scoring three goals in two games for the Arsenal u18s.

The Arsenal academy coaching staff took notice, promoting O’Neill to the u21s for their most recent fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion. The 17-year-old ended up playing the entire second half of the 1-0 win, which was the u21s’ first victory of the season.

Now that O’Neill has made his u21 debut internationally as well, he’ll be looking to play at that level as often as possible.

Photo via O’Neill on Instagram

O’Neill is capable of playing on the wings, but his current niche in the Arsenal setup is as a centre-forward.

That could be in part because the club have seen a number of youth forwards departing this year, and attempts to attract the likes of Will Wright and Igor Tyjon as replacements were ultimately unsuccessful.

But the youngster is also just proving an effective goalscorer, and he appears to have the right build for that more central role when called upon.

Whether it’s on the wings or centrally, O’Neill certainly appears to have a key role to play for the Arsenal academy this season.