An unlikely set of circumstances propelled the very young and promising Jack Porter into the Arsenal goal this Wednesday for the League Cup match against Bolton (5-1).
And you, what were you doing at 16 years and 72 days? Jack Porter, for his part, has simply become the youngest player in history to start an official match for Arsenal. By being started this Wednesday by Mikel Arteta to face Bolton (5-1), in the third round of the League Cup (also called Carabao Cup), this young English goalkeeper has erased from the records a certain Cesc Fabregas, who had made his debut in the first team at 16 years and 177 days, one evening in October 2003, under the orders of Arsène Wenger.
An improbable combination of circumstances
History will tell whether Porter follows the same golden destiny as his Spanish elder, but he has already won over the Emirates Stadium crowd, who warmly applauded him for every ball he touched, every time he made a successful pass. Although he conceded a goal early in the second half, on which he was both abandoned by his defence and easily dribbled past by Welsh striker Aaron Collins, the man who joined the Gunners academy four years ago will remember this evening for a long time.
“We told him yesterday that he would be starting and he was over the moon! He told his family straight away. They weren’t prepared for that. But he reacted very well and was very calm. What an experience!” Arteta congratulated him at the final whistle.
An international U17, he took advantage of a surprising set of circumstances to be thrown into the deep end so young. With the slight injury to his right knee suffered by the starting player David Raya on Sunday against Manchester City, it was the experienced Neto who should have been in the line-up. But the 35-year-old Brazilian, who arrived in the final stretch of the transfer window, had played in the previous round of the League Cup with Bournemouth and could therefore not face Bolton. All this could have benefited Tommy Setford (18), also recruited this summer from Ajax, but he is currently injured.
So it was Porter who found himself in the starting line-up for this evening, which saw several other “Baby Gunners” get their chance. The great English hope Ethan Nwaneri (17 years old) took advantage of it to score a double.
