Gabriel Arteta Bernal, son of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, has taken his first steps in the footballing world.
As reported by Arsenal youth team expert, Jeorge Bird, the 16-year-old featured for the Under-17s in their Premier League Cup clash against Watford on October 1.
The game ended in a 3-3 draw, though the biggest talking point has been the involvement of the Arsenal manager’s eldest son of three.
Arteta Bernal is a right-winger, unlike his father who operated as a central midfielder during his playing days with the Gunners, Paris Saint-Germain, Rangers, Real Sociedad and Everton.
The youngster, who is in the Arsenal Academy, was present at the senior team’s pre-season training camp in the United States a couple of years ago as he watched the sessions along with the club’s coaching staff.
It remains to be seen if Arteta Bernal follows in the footsteps of his father and makes a senior appearance for Arsenal at some point in the future.
If the youngster does get a chance in north London while his father is still in charge then Arteta will become the first Arsenal manager to have ever coached their son at the club.
The worst-case scenario is Arteta Bernal does not make it at Arsenal but breaks through at another Premier League club.
This would see the Artetas join an exclusive ‘father-son’ club in the Premier League which already includes Ian Wright and Shaun and Bradley Wright-Phillips, Rory and Liam Delap, and Alf-Inge and Erling Haaland among others.
