sportbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

13 Year Old Remy Mitchell Makes Arsenal Under 18s Debut

13 Year Old Remy Mitchell Makes Arsenal Under 18s Debut

He's playing well above his own age range but the Arsenal youngster played the whole 90 minutes in a win for the youth team.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Aged 14 the closest most of us get to playing football against 18 year olds is watching the sixth formers take their place at the top of the playground as we play further down with our year. For Remy Mitchell though age is no hurdle.

We all know in playground football there's a hierarchy and unless you're good enough to one day make it as a professional footballer it's likely you'll have to stick to the footballing pyramid during school lunches.

That means the older you get through the school the more likely you are to have a good place for your pitch on the school playground, the day you got to graduate to the furthest reaches were a blessed day.

Of course no 14 year old would dare try to play against the older boys, what real adolescent really has the self confidence to talk to someone older than them anyway.

Well that clearly isn't something that affects Arsenal youth academy player Remy Mitchell. The 13 year old goalkeeper played for the Gunners' under 18s on Saturday, playing all 90 minutes in their 4-2 win over Aston Villa's young side:

I don't know what you were doing in your school holidays aged 14 but personally I think I went into town a couple of times, played Football Manager and broke into the local pitches to play football with my mates, I wasn't playing under 18s football for a Premier League team.

At 14 and a goalkeeper Mitchell is essentially over a decade away from people not considering him young for a goalkeeper and he won't get anywhere near his peak for another 15 years or so.

Neil Finn. Image: PA Images
Neil Finn. Image: PA Images

If Mitchell wants a target to aim for then he can look no further than former West Ham United goalkeeper Neil Finn.

Finn is the youngest keeper to have played in the Premier League when he featured for the Hammers against Manchester City aged 17 years and three days back in January 1996.

For now Mitchell can go back to the playground and be safe in the knowledge he can play on whatever 'pitch' he wants.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football News, Premier League, England, Arsenal