Arsenal Targets Jeremy Monga: A Young Winger's Potential
Arsenal’s youth revolution has gathered pace in recent seasons, but there is a clear gap on one side of the pitch. The club believes Jeremy Monga might be the answer.
The 16-year-old Leicester City winger is firmly on Arsenal’s radar, with a deal being pursued this summer. Still a teenager, already a Premier League debutant, and now a standout in a chaotic relegation campaign, Monga has emerged as one of the most intriguing young wide players in the country.
A street footballer in a professional arena
Those who have watched him closely don’t speak about him like a typical academy prospect. Josh Holland, Leicester City correspondent for LeicestershireLive and the Leicester Mercury, has seen enough to be convinced of the raw material Arsenal are chasing.
“Monga plays football at a professional standard, like he is playing in the street,” Holland told football.london. A simple line, but it paints the picture. This is a winger who treats defenders like cones, not colleagues.
“A remarkable ball-carrier who is obsessed with beating his man and driving forward.”
That obsession defines his game. Monga operates primarily off the left, hugging the touchline, demanding the ball high and wide. Once it comes, he drives infield, twisting full-backs one way and then the other. Strong off both feet, blessed with sharp, elastic agility, he doesn’t just dribble; he attacks space with intent.
Leicester, Holland argues, never truly leaned into that threat. “Leicester didn’t use him anywhere near as much as they should have last season in the Championship,” he said. For a club spiralling towards relegation, the reluctance to trust a fearless winger became a lingering frustration among those who had seen what he could do.
Arsenal’s left flank dilemma
At Arsenal, the context is very different. Mikel Arteta’s squad is packed with young talent already pushing into the first team: Max Dowman, Marli Salmon, Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly. The pathway is real, not theoretical.
Yet on the left flank, the future is far less settled. With question marks hanging over Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, Arsenal’s next generation of wide stars is heavily weighted to other areas of the pitch. Monga would arrive as the specialist left-sided attacker this group currently lacks.
Holland sees echoes of what Arsenal already have. “They’re different players, but there are big similarities between Monga and Max Dowman,” he said. Both carry the ball with purpose, both play with a certain fearlessness that tends to survive only in the very best talents once they reach senior level.
Arsenal’s primary target for the wide left role this summer is Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa, a more established option who could step straight into the rotation. Monga, by contrast, would be one for the next phase of the project, not the immediate starting XI.
A generational feel – but no rush
When Monga first broke into Leicester’s senior side at the end of the 2024/25 Premier League season, his impact was immediate.
“When he came into the first team at the end of the 2024/25 Premier League season, he was turning defenders inside out, and it genuinely felt like City had a generational talent,” Holland recalled.
Then came the drop-off. As Leicester slid from the Championship into League One, Monga’s expected minutes shrank, and questions followed. Was it attitude? Application? Or simply the turbulence of a club in freefall?
“His drop in expected minutes was a concern, and there were some doubts over his attitude,” Holland admitted. “But I’m in the camp that he’s just a 16-year-old taking the pressure in his stride, and he’s not an emotional figure.”
Arsenal, crucially, would not be buying him to fix anything today. They would be buying time and potential.
“I don’t expect him to feature for Arsenal anytime soon. Give him one more season, and I think he’d be ready to be a key member of Mikel Arteta’s side,” Holland said.
Arteta’s recent use of Dowman and other academy products underlines the point. When the door opens, he does not hesitate to push young talent through it. Monga would know there is a path, even if it starts with under-21 football and cup cameos rather than Premier League starts.
The price of potential
Talent at 16 does not come cheap. Suggestions are that Arsenal would need to pay between £10 million and £15 million to land Monga, with a tribunal still a possibility depending on how the move unfolds.
For a teenager with only 37 senior appearances, it is a serious investment. For a club just relegated to League One, it is also a serious dilemma.
“I’m split on this. £10m-£15m is a decent fee for a 16-year-old,” Holland said. “Even more so when you consider he’s only played 37 times at senior level.
“But on the flip side. 12 months ago, the thought of him leaving for that seemed unrealistic. That’s the result of Leicester’s relegation to League One.
“As a third-tier outfit, City can’t turn their nose up at that sort of fee.”
That is the harsh reality. Twelve months earlier, Leicester might have built a team around Monga, protected him, extended his deal, and talked about him as the face of their future. Now, the financial gravity of League One pulls in the opposite direction.
For Arsenal, that creates an opening that might not come again. A left-footed street footballer in a professional’s body, available at 16, with Premier League experience and the temperament to ride out a turbulent season.
The question is no longer whether Jeremy Monga is worth the risk. It is whether Arsenal can afford to let someone else take it.
