At 20-years-old, there’s still strong hope among Arsenal fans that Charlie Patino will be able to make a significant impact in North London.
Patino, who was once the gem of the Hale End academy, has now amassed 59 Championship appearances across two loan spells.
And following his success at Blackpool last season, Patino was meant to be taking his career one step further at Swansea City.
However, after a promising start, Patino has now often found himself on the bench in the last few months, and hasn’t even played a minute on a few occasions.
In truth, that is probably causing a bit of concern at the Emirates, given Patino was meant to be making significant progress whilst away from Arsenal.
Swansea have just recently appointed a new manager in Luke Williams, who is hoping to steer the side clear of an unexpected relegation fight.
And when speaking to Wales Online, Williams has now shared a long chat he recently had with a concerned Charlie Patino.
Arsenal told Charlie Patino needs to make significant improvement without the ball
The Swansea manager explained Patino wasn’t regularly in the eleven because of his work without the ball, admitting he was ‘exceptional’ in possession.
Williams said: “He came to see me the other day off his own back asking if we could have a chat.
“He was in my office for about an hour and he talks so passionately about football.
“I think Charlie sometimes, what’s in him, the passion and the love he has for football, doesn’t always come out of him. Just because of his personality, he can give appearance of being very laid back. Very calm and without intensity.
“But actually inside he’s very passionate and has so much desire. At the top level of the Championship the physicality is just mind-blowing. I think this is probably the toughest thing for Charlie at the moment.
“But I think if the team plays with control more and controls the game with the ball more. Charlie’s going to be exceptional. He has a way into the team. There’s no doubt.”
Williams added: “There are two sides to the game.
“If you can’t effectively take the ball off the other team then it doesn’t matter how much ability you’ve got.
“So, the very, very best players in the division can take the ball off you as equally as they can hurt you with it.”
An exit seems likely
Of course, when you consider that there was a significant chance of Patino leaving Arsenal permanently last summer, the writing may now be on the wall.
Perhaps Mikel Arteta will see it differently, he may still think Patino’s skill set can be beneficial at the Emirates.
But from the outside, it seemed as if Patino needed to make considerable progress at Swansea this year to stand a chance.
That being said, Michael Ballack has now been recalling a player he thought was completely ‘misunderstood’ at Arsenal.
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