Arsenal set to beat Premier League rivals to sign Wolves starlet

Arsenal have made an offer for, and look set to sign, a Wolves starlet wanted by several Premier League clubs.

Brayden Clarke, a 16-year-old defender for Wolves and the Wales U17 team, is reportedly the target of an offer from Arsenal, and he is expected to go to North London.

The player has already bid farewell to the Wolves players and staff in preparation for a move, with Arsenal now thought to be his most likely destination. The story was first broken by TheSecretScout on X (previously Twitter).

The center back’s choice to sign with the Gunners was apparently being pursued by four other Premier League teams, so it was quite the coup for our academy at a time when Hale End was full of potential.

The son of former Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest midfielder Nigel Quashie, who was capped 14 times for Scotland, he certainly has big shoes to fill but looks to be well on his way, with many Wolves fans very sad to see him leave.

Clarke was part of the historic Wales U17 side who qualified for the UEFA European Under-17 Championships finals in 2023, when he was just 15 years old – which was the first time that a Welsh men’s youth team had qualified for a major tournament since 1981.

Wolves’ academy manager, Jonathan Hunter-Barrett, has spoken very highly of Clarke’s mentality despite his young age, saying: “Brayden’s got that mentality, focus and drive to step into that environment and succeed.”

Clarke has recently confirmed on Instagram that he is leaving Wolves after seven years, which makes the timing of Arsenal’s reported offer all the more promising in terms of the likelihood of the transfer being completed.

In April last year, Clarke made history as he was part of the Wales under-17 squad that qualified for the European Under-17 Championship finals for the first time in the country’s history, despite being aged just 15 at the time.