According to the Sun UK, Marseille and Borussia Dortmund are both interested in signing young English Midfielder Ben Cottrell from Arsenal. The 17-year old has risen through the Arsenal ranks since joining their Academy at the age of nine.
Crafty midfielder Ben Cottrell is making a name for himself within the Arsenal system, showing the potential to be a star in the future. But whenever a young player shows promise like this, other clubs notice and are eager to sign the player. In this case, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille are keen on the youngster.
Dortmund is the perfect club for Cottrell to end up. Here’s why.
Dortmund is the perfect club for Cottrell
They signed 18-year old Englishmen Jadon Sancho from Manchester City in the summer of 2017, and he has turned into a star for the German giants. His impressive form with Dortmund earned him his first call-up to the England senior national team, appearing in the Nations league last month.
More from Arsenal FC
- Gunners do just enough to claim victory in season opener
- Arsenal: We bottled it but I don’t care
- Arsenal complete record deal for Declan Rice
- Arsenal splurges on transfers as they aim to collect silverware
- Arsenal complete the signing of Kai Havertz
Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has voiced that he’s always looking to bring in young English talent to his club.
Cottrell, who is just a year younger than Sancho, could very well turn into a star in the Bundesliga if Dortmund decided to make an offer for the midfielder. He’s on basically the same path as Sancho was. He hasn’t played for the first team yet since he is still technically too young and there’s a lack of room for him at the Emirates. With Sancho, he never even played with City’s first team before leaving for Germany. As soon as Dortmund signed him, he was immediately inserted into the main squad.
This could very well happen if Cottrell made the move over to Germany. Sancho didn’t start right away with Dortmund, he earned his playing time as every player should. Cottrell would have to do the same. But based on his impressive playmaking skills in the midfield for Arsenal’s U18 side, the future looks to be bright for the youngster.
After playing a lot of his youth in the central midfield, Cottrell has been spending more time out on the flanks. Again, another similarity to Jadon Sancho.
Sancho was the first English player to ever play for Dortmund and after his outstanding form, it’s left a positive feel about English players around the Dortmund front office. That’s exactly why it’s not surprising to see Michael Zorc showing interest in signing Cottrell considering how well their first English signing fared.
Cottrell just turned 17 on October 31st, so he is still extremely young. But he has shown glimpses of brilliance with the U18s and definitely should take the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Sancho at Dortmund if possible.
Besides Sancho, Borussia Dortmund honestly just has a rich history of developing players. Robert Lewandowski got his career started with Dortmund before moving over to Bayern Munich and becoming one of the most electric goal-scorers in the world. Ousmane Dembele starred for Dortmund before he was bought by Barcelona, among many others.
Ben Cottrell may want to fight for a spot on the first team with Arsenal, but if the money is on the table to go and develop in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund, he should definitely take it.