Arsenal Pre-Season Tour 2019: The Future Stars – Where are they Now? | OneFootball

Each year, Arsenal play several pre-season fixtures in various far-flung locations around the world. As well as gradually building up the fitness of the first-team squad, these tours allow global supporters to see their favourite players in action, and they also enable several promising youngsters to stake a claim for a place amongst the senior players.

In 2025, the Gunners travelled to Hong Kong and Singapore to face AC Milan, Spurs and Newcastle, taking along another crop of future stars, including Alexei Rojas-Fedoruschenko, Ismeal Kabia, Marli Salmon and the highly-rated Max Dowman. Not all of these players will make it into Arsenal’s first-team squad, with the pathway often blocked by expensive recruits. However, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have both made it into the starting XI in the last twelve months, giving hope to those academy players who will be aiming to make a similar journey.

As second favourites for the Premier League title, Mikel Arteta will be feeling the pressure to try and end the club’s long wait for top-flight silverware, and some of the younger players may be utilised in cup competitions to allow the senior stars an opportunity to rest.

2019 Pre-Season Tour Squad

Arsenal’s 2019 pre-season preparations took place in the USA, with the club participating in the International Champions Cup. Alongside beating Bayern Munich and Fiorentina, the North Londoners’ schedule also included a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid, which saw the Gunners blow a two-goal lead.

The squad included Carl Jenkinson, now of Bromley, Callum Chambers, currently at Cardiff City, captain Mesut Ozil, as well as goalscorers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Other notable members include Sead Kolasinac, Joe Willock and Granit Xhaka. The latter has recently returned to the Premier League, signing for Championship play-off winners Sunderland. With all three promoted teams having been relegated back to the second tier in consecutive campaigns, it’s easy to see why the Black Cats have been priced up by the bookmakers as the second favourites for the drop. However, Xhaka’s organisational skills and Premier League experience will give them a far better chance of preserving their place in the top flight.

With an ever-increasing number of pre-season betting markets now available with global bookmakers, punters who enjoy using sports betting apps such as Bet365 have found innovative ways to get the Black Cats on side, such as wagering on them to be the highest placed promoted team or in the season handicap markets. Arsenal fans will be pleased to see Xhaka back in the Premier League, and he should get a decent reception at the Emirates in February.

Younger Players

2019’s crop of academy graduates included Bukayo Saka, who has undoubtedly become an Arsenal icon; however, several newcomers failed to make the grade in North London.

Tyreece John-Jules was nominated for PL2 Player of the Month in December 2018, and he was invited on the club’s pre-season tour the following season. Having been part of the U18s side, which reached the final of the FA Youth Cup, the club had high hopes for the nephew of Red Dwarf actor Danny John-Jules.

Unfortunately, things haven’t gone according to plan for the Westminster-born frontman, who finds himself without a club having been released by Crawley at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. Loan spells at Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, and Ipswich yielded just four goals, and injuries also hampered his progress along the way. He was recently linked with a move to Croatian giants Hajduk Split as a potential replacement for the outgoing Marko Livaja; however, this failed to materialise.

James Olayinka was also invited on the pre-season tour shortly after signing his first professional contract at the beginning of the calendar year. The midfielder, who was also named amongst the subs for the 2020 Community Shield, spent short spells at Northampton and Southend before heading to Ireland to join Waterford.

The 24-year-old, who was without a club for several months following his release from Cheltenham Town, has made 21 appearances in the League of Ireland so far this season under former Accrington boss John Coleman.

Robbie Burton is another former Gunner who now plies his trade in Ireland. He signed for Sligo Rovers in July 2022, having spent time in Croatia at Dinamo Zagreb and Istra 1961. The Gravesend-born midfielder, who captained Arsenal’s Under-23s, was the only youngster on our list to get any minutes against Real Madrid, replacing Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the final quarter of an hour.

Zech Medley has been forced to drop down the divisions, with the former Arsenal Under-18s captain currently turning out for Fleetwood in League Two. His path to Lancashire has been varied, with spells at Gillingham and KV Oostende in Belgium. He made 58 appearances for the West Flanders outfit, scoring three times before returning to the UK in July 2024.

Dominic Thompson was also named in the squad, although he left the club several weeks later to sign for Brentford. His loan spells have been largely unsuccessful, and he failed to make an impression at Blackpool throughout his three-year spell in West Lancashire. Following his release from Bloomfield Road, he signed a short-term contract with Motherwell before switching to Kilmarnock following the termination of his deal.