Deportivo La Coruna midfielder Charlie Patino has hit out at Arsenal for blocking his “pathway” into the first team, something which he felt he “deserved”.
The England under-21 international, who has played for the Three Lions at all youth levels, moved to the Gunners’ academy in 2015 with former head of scouting at Arsenal, Sean O’Connor, hailing Patino as the “best player who has ever walked through the doors at Hale End”.
Patino scored on his senior debut for Arsenal as the Gunners beat Sunderland 5-1 in a League Cup quarter-final in December 2021 before going on to make one more appearance in the FA Cup that season.
Loan spells at Blackpool and Swansea City in the Championship followed over the next two seasons before Patino left the Emirates Stadium for Deportivo in the summer.
But Patino still thinks he could have made it at Arsenal if they had made the right “pathway” available for him at the time.
Patino told The Guardian: “I don’t have any regrets… I just feel sometimes I wanted to be involved more. I felt I didn’t really get the communication or pathway I wanted or felt I deserved. But that’s life.
“And [even] if that door doesn’t open, you’re bettering yourself, giving yourself a better opportunity to play at a high level. Arsenal are not the only football club in the world. There are hundreds of teams competing at the highest level.”
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Speaking in October 2023 about Patino’s future, Arteta said: “There is always a pathway.
“When make decisions on those kind of players it is always to keep an eye on them and see if we can evolve the squad in a way. The first thing we do is look at what we have internally.”
Describing his Arsenal debut and scoring, Patino added in his interview with The Guardian: “At first I wasn’t in the squad. The second coach called home. I was excited, thinking it would be a good experience rather than expecting to come on. I remember a message from [Alexandre] Lacazette: ‘Listen, you’re going to be a top player, just keep working hard, stay focused.’
“They made me welcome. You’re an academy player, they’re first-team players. But if you think you’re a kid, act like a kid, play like a kid, it’s not going to end well. If you play like you’re part of it, everyone will trust you.
“I did a dodgy knee slide, the players came, and I looked up to my family. My sister was at my mum’s parents’, recording it: they cried. I had loads of messages. But I didn’t want to get too high or too low. The next day I was up at half-seven for training. After that I started against Forest, a really good experience, then I was on the bench five, six times: Newcastle, Norwich, Everton …”
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