Arsenal summer signing Joel Ideho is starting to find his feet with the club’s academy, after needing a little bit of time to settle in. This week, I’m taking a look at the story of his career so far.
Ideho has had a whirlwind 12 months, considering that at this time last year, he hadn’t even joined Ajax yet. The young winger was then still playing for Willem II, whom he’d represented at various levels since the 2016/17 season. Before that, he’d played for RKTVV and SC ‘t Zand.
Amid interest from Hertha BSC and Southampton, Ideho decided to join Ajax, with Willem II announcing his departure in May 2020.
Ideho started the new season making a number of appearances for Ajax’s u18 and u19 sides, and he caught Arsenal’s eye in the UEFA Youth League. One particularly impressive display against FC Midtjylland – where he chipped the goalkeeper from distance – had plenty of clubs registering their interest.
That interest came at the perfect time for the player himself, who was unhappy with the fact Ajax wouldn’t offer him professional terms. Arsenal were willing to do so, and that was a move Ideho was very much open to.
“It’s always nice hearing that clubs have belief in your talent, but to find out that Arsenal were interested was amazing,” Ideho said later. “I was so happy because Arsenal is such a big club with great history and they’ve had some iconic Dutch players over the years too.”
In October, Ideho signed for Arsenal to 2023, but things didn’t go so smoothly after that. At first, he had to wait a few weeks to even join up with the team in training. Then he had to wait another couple of weeks to get a chance on the pitch. That opportunity finally came with the Arsenal u23s against Blackburn Rovers in November.
With Arsenal already 5-0 up, the pressure was off for Ideho’s debut. He came on for the last 10 minutes of the match, and actually assisted a sixth goal with a nice chipped through-ball to Nikolaj Moller.
But Ideho remained on the fringes of the u23 squad, and his involvement on the bench at that level often left him unavailable for u18 matches as well. As a result, he only made one u18 start from November to January.
Finally, in mid-February, things started to turn around. Ideho made himself a regular starter with the u18s, and he capped his recent progress with his first goal against Norwich City in March.
Speaking after that game, Ideho said: “The first few months of the season were difficult for me. I wasn’t playing many games and that was hard for me, especially in the middle of this pandemic, but I’m picking up more minutes now, finding my flow, and making more friends too.
“Scoring my first goal for the club last week felt amazing, but now I’m just focused on scoring more, assisting more, and helping the team in any way possible.”
It seems those weren’t just empty words, as Ideho scored one and assisted one in his next game against Reading last weekend.
The 17-year-old played a lovely ball in behind for Omari Hutchinson’s opening Arsenal goal on the day, before adding one of his own. Receiving the ball with a smart touch to maintain his momentum, Ideho cut inside the defender before curling a shot into the far corner.
Those two goal contributions were even more important because they got Arsenal back into the game from 2-0 down, with the team going on to win 4-3.
If Ideho can maintain that end product with consistency, in addition to his raw pace and trickery, he’s sure to carve out a spot in the Arsenal u23s over the next season or two. His limited games so far mean his four goal contributions give him a ratio of one every 130 minutes, which isn’t bad by any means.
Given he turns 18 in the summer, he’ll certainly be stepping up to u23 level next campaign, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have to work for his spot.
Jeorge Bird of Arsenal Youth recently highlighted the youngster does need to improve his decision-making, which is true. But that’s not so uncommon for young players, and the evidence of the last few weeks suggests he’s improving in that regard.
Overall, I’d say Ideho is an example of one of Arsenal’s summer signings who has earned himself further chances to impress, but without setting the world alight. He has the potential, he’s in good form, now he just needs to keep building on his current standing.