As the young Arsenal player Chuks Aneke lines up another loan move back to League 1 side Crewe Alexandra, I can’t help but feel that he may have found his level of football dropping down the divisions.
Like so many before him, Aneke definitely once had the potential to succeed at Arsenal and had even been involved with the first team from time to time, as well as being an active member of Pre-Season tours with Arsenal, including this summer. However he has never really grabbed his chance and on the occasional time that he may get to play he has never made that stand out action that makes him shine amongst the rest and so, at the age of 20, his chance may not come again.
As mentioned Aneke was once a very promising player, he and Benik Afobe both had the chance to join Barcelona in 2010, however they both turned the move down to sign a professional contract with Arsenal. Afobe is in fact another player that seems to be unfortunately missing the cut at Arsenal, especially with Yaya Sanogo and the emerging Chuba Akpom likely to take his squad role.
Since signing in 2010, Aneke has already been shipped out on loan several times playing for Stevenage, Preston North End and of course Crewe, where the manager is confident of signing the young defensive midfielder up, yet again.
He said, “I’ve had dialogue with Chuks, he’s been in Asia. So we’ll just check out that position there. He did terrific for us last season. I think initially people didn’t see his quality, but over time he came to fruition and his fitness was much better. The quality, creativity and goal scoring ability he’s got was apparent to everybody”
With a figure like Diaby’s, Aneke is a real powerhouse in midfield and could have definitely been a strong shout for that commanding midfielder but having never really progressed over the last few years, I think it will soon be time to say Goodbye to Aneke. Once you hit 20 at Arsenal and are still struggling to emerge on the fringes of the Arsenal set up, it usually means you are following in the footsteps of Sanchez Watt and Craig Eastmond, just playing in the reserves until your contract runs out and I fear that this is what will happen to the once promising Chuks Aneke. He needs to really push on this season to prove me wrong.