A former Arsenal player has revealed that he wishes he were still playing for the North London club.
Matt Turner recently expressed regret at leaving the Gunners so prematurely, joining an infamous list of players who have departed N5 and later felt it was the wrong decision.
The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Alex Hleb and Alex Song have publicly revealed that they are in this category, and now there is a new entrant.
That said, the latest to claim they want to still be playing for Arsenal but aren’t doesn’t regret the decision he made when opting to leave.
Amario Cozier-Duberry says leaving Arsenal was a ‘tough decision’
Amario Cozier-Duberry left Arsenal for Brighton in the summer of 2024.
The young winger had developed through the Hale End Academy, but opted to leave N5 after not breaking through into the Gunners’ youth team at an early age.
While he featured on Mikel Arteta’s bench on eight different occasions, he never made a first-team appearance for his boyhood club.
Now thriving on loan from Brighton at Bolton in League One, Cozier-Duberry has provided some insight into his departure from the Emirates.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the 19-year-old revealed that he would like to still be playing for Arsenal, but felt he had to leave to find a better pathway to senior football.
“I joined Arsenal in the under-15s,” he said.
“I climbed up the ranks, from 16s, to 18s and then the 21s. Yeah, I left last season, or the season before last, sorry, to join Brighton. I felt like it was a better pathway for me. I then joined Blackburn on loan last season. This season, I’m on loan at Bolton. It’s been quite quick.
“It was quite a tough decision to make to leave because I’m an Arsenal fan, so I want to be playing for Arsenal, but I just felt it was just a better opportunity and a better pathway for me at the time to go and join Brighton.”
Mikel Arteta couldn’t afford to blood Amario Cozier-Duberry at Arsenal
Cozier-Duberry is a talented young winger who has drawn comparisons to Bukayo Saka.
That said, Arteta couldn’t afford to blood the 21-year-old, who eventually left for nothing after rejecting a contract offer from the Gunners due to him not envisaging a role in the first team.
In the season Cozier-Dubbery most often featured in the Spaniard’s squad, the Gunners were in the midst of a Premier League title race, and the manager couldn’t throw in a promising but physically light winger and still expect to compete.
Fans demand that the coach bring academy players through, but also expect the team to win football matches.
Unfortunately, at the highest level when competing for major honours, only the elite prospects will be granted opportunities.
The likes of Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson broke through when Arsenal weren’t at the pinnacle of the game, but they may have struggled to had they developed a few years later.
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