Arsenal's Youngsters: Kristoffer Olsson

To add to the weekly match reports and reviews on this site, I've decided to add something different on a weekly or fortnightly basis. I will be adding a series in which I'll take a look into the club's younger players giving you a detailed analysis on the way they play, if they have a future at the club, and how their career, albeit their short career so far, has gone.

For the first in the series, I'll be taking a look into 18 year old Swedish midfielder Kristoffer Olsson. Olsson is a naturally gifted play maker and is tipped to be a star for the future by Wenger and other members of the coaching team at Arsenal.

When Olsson was 13 he was invited for a trial at Chelsea, however he didn't turn up and eventually ended up at Swedish side, IFK Norrköping. 3 years later he was being chased by both Juventus and Ajax but chose Arsenal instead as he moved to England for £200,000.

Kris Olsson in action against CSKA Moscow in last season's NextGen series

Olsson made his first team debut in 2012 in the Markus Liebherr Cup, hosted at St. Mary's, Southampton. Arsenal were victors in the Competition as Olsson played and scored in the penalty shoot-out, aged 17, as the Gunners beat Southampton. The same season saw Olsson as a regular in Terry Burton's U21 side. He featured in the U21 league whilst also playing a part in the Gunners run in the NextGen series. Overall the Swede played 24 times +5 sub appearances, scoring 2 goals.

2013, so far, has been his break through campaign. He was given a place on the side's Asia Tour. He featured 2 times on the tour, scoring in Arsenal's first match against an Indonesian XI and then coming on as a sub against Vietnam. The 18 year old was to then make his full competitive debut in September. He came on as a sub as Arsenal beat West Brom on penalties in the League Cup. Olsson was one of the penalty takers and emphatically scored his.

Olsson has great potential and has the capabilities of turning into a first team player at Arsenal with hard work. In my opinion I think he could turn into a good squad player. I've seen him in action once when the U21's played a pre-season match against Chesham last season and he looked like an accomplished player. He is very assured on the ball and is a good passer from what I've seen. As with many midfield players, if he was to add goals to his game, then he could become a very very good player. Arsenal's previous Swedish players have included a club legend Freddie Ljungberg, and a player that didn't turn out as well, Seb Larsson. Which one Kris will turn out to be more like in terms of his Arsenal career remains to be seen though.

Video of Kris Olsson in action last season: