The inside story of Miguel Azeez’s departure from Arsenal
Miguel Azeez’s lengthy association with Arsenal came to an end in February when he signed for Atletico Baleares.
Having made his senior debut against Dundalk in the Europa League in 2020, it was anticipated that the midfielder would go on to break into the first-team squad.
Questions have been raised about the way in which the youngster’s development was managed by Arsenal, with loan spells at Portsmouth, Ibiza and Wigan Athletic not going to plan.
Here’s an insight into the story behind Azeez’s departure from Arsenal and a look at how the situation was handled.
A player who progressed all the way through the ranks at the academy from the age of five, Azeez showed his loyalty to Arsenal by electing to sign a five-year contract in 2019, at a time when fellow midfielder Yunus Musah rejected a similar contract offer and left the club for Valencia.
Widely seen as an excellent prospect, Azeez often played above his age group for Arsenal at U18 and subsequently U23/U21 level, and started to become more involved with the first-team squad.
After a superb goal against Watford in pre-season in 2021 Azeez was seen as a potential candidate to make the breakthrough at Arsenal.
However, in August 2021 he was loaned to Portsmouth. Azeez played ten times and scored his first senior goal but he had informed Arsenal academy manager Per Mertesacker and then loans manager Ben Knapper prior to the move that he didn’t feel that Portsmouth would be the best club for his development. However, he decided to take Arsenal’s advice and went to Portsmouth.
Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley chose to put Azeez in the B team for the majority of the training sessions and didn’t appear to have faith in him.
Azeez was subsequently recalled in January 2022 and was loaned out again in September that year, this time linking up with Spanish club Ibiza. In a somewhat unusual turn of events, Ibiza had four different managers in the short time that Azeez was at the club, which meant that consistency was difficult to come by.
A third loan followed in January 2023, with Azeez joining Championship club Wigan Athletic, who were managed by Kolo Toure, with Kevin Betsy, Azeez’s former Arsenal youth coach, as his assistant. Toure and Betsy were dismissed soon afterwards, with Shaun Maloney taking charge.
Maloney immediately cut Azeez out of the squad and didn’t give him a look in despite some of the Wigan players being baffled by the decision considering the Arsenal loanee was consistently training well.
There were reports that Azeez’s father Femi confronted Maloney about the youngster’s lack of playing time after a game against Reading, with Wigan having been relegated to League One.
The reports were totally inaccurate, with Azeez’s father having never spoken to Maloney. Azeez’s brother (also called Femi, who plays for Reading) had spoken to Maloney, but they shook hands afterwards.
There is a feeling that Arsenal could have handled Azeez’s development better and that he could have thrived if he had been given an opportunity in the first-team.
After 16 years at the club, there was no farewell for Azeez as he joined Atletico Baleares, where he signed a six-month contract. He had been offered a contract extension by Arsenal last year but turned it down as he didn’t feel he would receive sufficient opportunities.
An inside source stated that Mertesacker said he would not help Azeez find another club due to him having not extended his contract by another year.
Azeez went into Arsenal’s London Colney training ground before the transfer window shut and put all his possessions in one big black bag as he left the club feeling totally dejected.
Despite having received much hype from an early age, Azeez has remained level-headed and consistent in his attitude. He is eager to impress in Spain and rebuild his confidence following the events of the last two years and will hopefully push on from there.
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