Young Arsenal striker Benik Afobe is confident that he is good enough to play in the first team next season.
The 21-year-old has been blazing trails in League One during a loan spell with MK Dons, scoring 15 goals in 20 appearances thus far – including two against Manchester United in a League Cup victory in September.
However, Afobe is already looking ahead to next season, and believes that he will be spending it with the Gunners.
“It’s been really easy [to settle],” Afobe is quoted as saying by The Daily Star.
“From day one the manager showed a lot of faith in me and I’m really happy with the way they’ve treated me. I’m really enjoying my time here.
“Sometimes when something clicks, it clicks. I’ve done nothing different to any of my other loans in terms of preparation and hard work – I’ve always done that. I just think it’s about the timing and being in the right place at the right time.
“I didn’t feel like I was involved as much as I should have been on previous loans, but here I feel like I’m a big part of MK Dons’ season with the minutes I’m playing and the goals I’m scoring.
“You can train as much as you want, and you can work as hard as you want, but if you’re not playing games you’re not going to improve. Playing every week shows you’re ready to be playing men’s football.
“At the moment I’m enjoying my football but I want to go back to Arsenal in the summer with my head held high and happy with the season I had. I want to prove them right because I know they believe in me.”
The Gooner is skeptical over his optimism, however, and believes that, at 21, he would be in our first team now if manager Arsene Wenger thought that he could make it at the highest level.
But he can’t be worse than Yaya Sanogo, can he?