Arsenal youngsters: 5 Gunners academy starlets to keep an eye on this season

With Petr Cech being Arsenal's only major signing so far this summer, the Gunners may have to promote from within if Arsene Wenger is to feature some new faces in his side this season.

The wheels at Hale End have continued to turn in recent years, with Hector Bellerin becoming the latest academy graduate to nail down a regular starting XI place.

The Gunners were on the receiving end of a superlative performance from West Ham's 16-year-old Reece Oxford at the weekend, but does Wenger have any aces of his own up his sleeve?

There were a number of fresh faces in the Gunners' pre-season tour to Singapore and also at the Emirates Cup, but do they have a chance to make the grade in the Premier League?

Here are five Arsenal youngsters to keep an eye on.

Alex Iwobi

The 19-year-old was a surprise inclusion in the Gunners' touring squad to Singapore and he then found himself starting the first game of the tour , before announcing his arrival to the Arsenal faithful when he scored during the 6-0 win over Lyon in the Emirates Cup.

Iwobi has worked his way though the ranks at Hale End, playing in a number of positions as Academy coaches tried to figure out where best to utilise the youngster's pace and silky feet.

Able to operating at full-back, winger and even up-front, Iwobi has been capped at England Under-16, 17 and 18 levels, but the Lagos-born Gunner looks set to declare his international future to Nigeria.

Iwobi is the nephew of former Bolton playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha and it would appear that he can call on some of the former Nigeria international's skill on the ball, while at the same time maintaining an efficiency in possession that could sometimes let down his more famous relative.

“I like his team attitude, his movement,” said Arsene Wenger after the Lyon game. “We have a game based on movement and speed, and he integrates that very well. He has good power and is usually efficient – he scores goals a lot.”

Wenger has indicated that Iwobi will be staying with the Gunners this season, so expect to see plenty of him once the cup competitions come rolling round.

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Dan Crowley

Crowley joined the Gunners from Aston Villa on the cheap in 2013 thanks to the then-newly introduced FFFP rules, which upset the Midlands side who had nurtured the attacking midfielder into an England Under-16 star.

The 18-year-old split his time between the Under-18s and Under-21s at the Emirates last season, as the Gunners looked to see how the diminutive midfielder would fare in a more physical environment.

Part of a wave of up and coming English attacking midfielders with oodles of technical ability, Crowley is a creative type, he has all the trappings of a number 10, but spent a large chunk of last season on the left of a three-man attack.

As well as having an imaginative passing range, schemer Crowley can boast an excellent touch and close control which means he is able to both create and find space. He's also one of those footballers with a special move up his sleeve - a spin move where he takes the ball down, turns 180 degrees and faces the goal.

He sometimes has the look of a playground football and his temperament had been called into question when he first appeared in Arsenal's Under-18 side, but Gunners skipper Mikel Arteta has since praised his growing maturity.

"If you had asked me a few months ago if he was heading in the right direction, I wouldn't have been able to give you a certain answer," he said in January following the Gunners FA Youth Cup win over Reading.

"But now I can say I really like the way he has matured and grown up lately."

After impressing against a Singapore Select XI pre-season, Crowley has been given a chance to get some regular football under his belt at Barnsley, where he has joined on loan until January, where he joins promising Manchester United midfield duo Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell, who are also looking to get some playing time.

Chris Willock

Chris Willock came to Arsenal fan's attention during last year's pre-season campaign, when he was given a 45-minute run-out as a 16-year-old with the first-team in the Gunners' friendly with Boreham Wood, which was a just reward for his displays in the Under-18s during the previous campaign.

"He’s a very young boy and I wanted him to have a run out with the big boys to see how much he has to do,” Arsene Wenger said at the time.. “But technically and tactically he integrated very well. Of course it’s natural that he lacks a bit of power at that age but when he gets that he will be a very interesting player.”

And he's only improved since then, as the 17-year-old broke into the Gunners' Under-21 squad last season and also turned in several excellent displays in the UEFA Youth League.

Able to operate across the front-line, Willock combines quick feet and a superb first-touch with superb balance and an poise on the ball.

Willock's priority this season will likely be to constantly turn out for Arsenal's Under-21s this season, as it's perhaps still a tad too early to promote him further.

Gedion Zelalem

Spotted by Gunners scout Daniel Karbassiyoon while playing for Olney Rangers in America during a Dallas Cup match, Berlin-borm Zelalem was soon offered a place at the club's academy.

Since then, the central midfielder has been talked up in Arsenal circles for a couple of years now, with his first appearances for the Gunners Under-21 side coming while he was still at school.

The America Under-20 international has turned out for the first team a couple of times since then (the first player to play for the Gunners that was born after Arsene Wenger took charge at the club, fact fans), notably against Galatasaray in the Champions League, but has found first-team opportunities thin on the ground.

Of course, at only 18 years old, he has time on his side and he certainly has the skillset to make a mark on the Premier League.

His tidy passing has drawn comparisons to Cesc Fabregas and he is also a superb dribbler of the ball, with the capacity to create chances out of nothing. If he is able to contribute with more goals and lose his habit of sometimes drifting out of a game, then Zelalem has every chance of making an impression in at least the Capital One Cup this season.

Krystian Bielik

Arsene Wenger shelled out £2.4million in January to land the Polish youth international who came with the lazily-adorned label of 'the new Patrick Vieira', but is he the man to bring some depth to a position where they clearly need help?

Well, Bielik certainly has the determination of the French midfield destroyer, taking to Instagram towards the end of last season to declare that "this place is going to be mine in the future."

Those Vieira comparisons have partly come about largely due to the teenager's stature, as he stands at over six feet tall, but he also boasts of a superb long-range passing game as he sits in front of the back four and goes about his business.

Will he get his chance this season? Again, expect him to appear first in the Capital One Cup, but if Wenger's comments from last December, when Bielik visited the Gunners' set up are anything to go by, he force his way into the first-team squad on a more regular basis.

“I see a lot of potential in you”, the Frenchman said. “Age is not important, you will get a chance.”

A lot will be asked of Francis Coquelin in the Gunners midfield this season, but if opportunity knocks for Bielik in the shape of injuries or suspension, then Pole could be well placed to take advantage.