Arsenal are looking ahead to the future with their latest signing, who has just turned five and already been nicknamed, 'Little Messi' - no pressure kid!
Zayn Ali Salman is the youngest-ever player to join Arsenal's pre-academy after showcasing skills well beyond his age.
The child prodigy has created a lot of hype on social media with a host of videos showing him running rings around children more than double his age.
Advert
Austin Schofield is a coach at the First Touch Football Academy, where Arsenal first discovered the young footballer, and he spoke about Zayn's incredible potential in more detail.
"We put him obviously with his age range with the four, five, six-year-olds, and already he was just head and shoulders above everyone,"he said in quotes published by JOE.co.uk.
"Just a lot quicker than them and a lot more willing to go and get the ball. The way he kicks a ball, the way he passes the ball was so much better than everyone else. So, then we progressed him on.
"I spoke to his dad and he wanted to try him with the older ones. So, I thought, 'Why not? See how he gets on."
Arsenal talent scout Stephen Deans backed up these claims and expressed his disbelief that someone so young could show so much maturity on the ball.
Advert
"The kid is doing something that he shouldn't be doing," he said in quotes via Boss Hunting and JOE.co.uk.
"The way he's striking the ball, it just looked too sharp for someone that age. So I called my friend and he just said, 'Look, he's four.' I said, 'No way, he's not. He can't be in nursery. I need to speak to his parents.
"And from there, now we're here. We brought him into a few of our sessions as well and he's actually been doing it in real-time, so it wasn't a one-off. He's been doing it consistently."
Advert
The Zayn Ali Salman brand is also being grown by his parents, with over 7,000 followers on Instagram.
His posts include sponsored content with a child's clothing company, while there are also pics with former Gunners defender, Per Mertesacker and Olympic legend, Sir Mo Farah.
It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for young Zayn.
Topics: Arsenal