Arsenal youngster Charles Sagoe Jr is on the radar of League One side Shrewsbury, as reported by the Shropshire Star.
Salop lost their opening fixture in League One this season and needed penalties to get past League Two side Notts County in the League Cup. Manager Paul Hurst is expected to oversee a season of struggle by many, and with Peterborough visiting the New Meadow this weekend, things don’t look set to get any easier.
They’re now targetting Sagoe Jr as a striking option following his loan spell with Swansea last season. The 20-year-old came through the youth ranks at Fulham, switching to London rivals Arsenal in 2015. He represented the club’s Under 21 outfit in the EFL Trophy, making a debut for the senior side in the EFL Cup in 2023.
That’s his only senior football to date, and last season he was loaned to Swansea City in the Championship. It wasn’t a happy spell – he appeared twice in the second tier, but didn’t establish himself as a valuable member of the squad. That’s prompted Salop to believe they can lure him to the west of England with an offer of more first team minutes.
The move isn’t seen as a downward step by Arsenal; they’re prepared to offer him a new deal before the move, giving him some stability around his future. There’s a lot of belief in the player, who made the first team squad for a Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven a year ago. However, with his route to the first team blocked by many different names, senior football is what’s needed to accentuate his progression.
Shrewsbury are among the favourites for the drop from League One this season, having narrowly avoided relegation last time out. Manager Paul Hurst took the reigns in January following Matt Taylor’s sacking, himself a victim of the sack from League Two side Grimsby a couple of months prior.
Writer’s View
Sagoe Jr is highly regarded at Arsenal, and has completed a pre-season with both the Under 21s, and the senior team. He was on their US Tour over the summer, returning to the senior side that lost 2-1 to League One Lincoln City on the eve of the season.
In that game, he looked lively and quick and delivered well, but would the same space be afforded to him at Shrewsbury? He would certainly be better looking at the bottom end of League One because fewer clubs are likely to play deep against Salop and hit on the break. They’ll be the ones with a low line, so pace and energy to hit over the top could be a huge asset.
For the player, he needs to be somewhere with guaranteed regular minutes and where he’ll get on the ball with space, so the lower end, rather than an attacking team that has to break down deep defences, is going to be a wise choice. That has (of course) got to be offset by being in a team that will actually create a couple of chances a game, rather than him wandering around up top starved of the ball.
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