Former Arsenal prodigy explains why he didn’t ‘feel good’ before he left to join CL side

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Arsenal let some promising young players depart in recent days including Lino Sousa, but the reality is that not all academy talent will make it at the club.

In 2019, Bukayo Saka became a first-team player, but whilst he succeeded, fellow academy prospect Yunus Musah decided to leave.

The USMNT midfielder left in the summer of 2019 to join Valencia, whom Arsenal had beaten in the Europa League semi-finals a month before.

He became a success despite their struggles in La Liga, and this summer he earned a move to Serie A giants AC Milan. He is forging a good career for himself, and has now opened up on how his time at Arsenal impacted him.

Yunus Musah explains decision to leave Arsenal

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Musah claimed that he left Arsenal because he was unhappy with their contract offer, and felt that he would receive more first-team opportunities at Valencia.

“I felt like at the time I could make that step to become a first-team player soon,” he revealed.

“But it would have taken more time to do it if I was at Arsenal. And Valencia believed that I could make that step earlier, like I believed as well.

“So that was the decision. I didn’t quite feel good about the offer that Arsenal made, so I went to Valencia where I felt like I could get to the first team quicker.”

Could Yunus Musah have made it at Arsenal?

At the time of his departure, Aaron Ramsey also left the club, whilst Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles received opportunities under Unai Emery.

Arsenal were in chaos at the time, and he may have received some chances, but he still had a lot of competition from his fellow Hale End stars, and Valencia were competing in the Champions League, having finished fourth and won the Copa Del Rey prior to his arrival.

Valencia’s downfall coincided with his arrival, but he was a success at Mestalla, making 108 appearances and helping reach the Copa Del Rey final in 2022.

His career has worked out fairly well as a USA International and AC Milan star, and perhaps leaving what was an Arsenal team in disarray was the right decision for him.

The club may regret losing such a talent on a free transfer, and perhaps this is what has driven surprise sales of academy stars such as Bradley Ibrahim and Sousa.