Arsenal line up ‘subsequent Jamie Vardy’ as Mikel Arteta’s striker search turns to wonderkid

Arsenal are reportedly setting their sights on Blackburn’s rising star Harvey Higgins, who’s been likened to Jamie Vardy.

The 16-year-old forward has caught the eye at Blackburn and has even played for England at youth level. Higgins has also turned heads among sponsors, having signed a deal with Puma, and Arsenal are among several clubs rumoured to be keen on snapping him up.

As per The Sun, Serie A outfits are ready to go toe-to-toe with Arsenal for the young striker. However, the Gunners are aiming to seal the deal ‘in the next few weeks’, which could see Blackburn pocketing up to £1.5million in compensation. The report further suggests that Blackburn are also battling to retain 16-year-old defender Silver Eze.

Eze only made the switch to Blackburn from Accrington Stanley last November, but the Italian youth international is already said to be on the radar of ‘big clubs’.

Higgins made his first appearance for Blackburn’s Under-21s aged just 15 in December and scored as they drew 4-4 with Preston North End. Eze also debuted in the Under-21s in that match and head coach Mike Sheron couldn’t help but sing praises for the two teens.

“First and foremost, it was delightful to see some really young lads get on and cope well,” Sheron told the Lancashire Telegraph. “We had a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old finishing the game and it’s great to see some of the talent we still have coming through the Academy and getting the opportunities.

“To see Harvey score with more or less his first touch was great and we started the game well, scoring in the first minute. I felt they were probably the better side in the first half, they dominated the possession a lot more than we’d have liked them to and maybe their experience was showing more.

“You’ve got to give our lads a lot of credit because we had words at half-time about how we were going to stop the tide and it was great to see the substitutes work. To equalise, go 3-2 up and then 4-3 up, I thought we showed good spirit tonight and I was really pleased with how the second half went.

“I was just disappointed with the game management at the end, but you’ve got to expect that with a young side. We were really pleased with the positives going forward, but we were pretty disappointing on transitions and a little too open.”

Arsenal, meanwhile, are gearing up for a busy summer in the transfer market following the appointment of Andrea Berta as the club’s new sporting director. “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it,” Arteta said.

“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different.

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“But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step. I think Andrea is a big addition to the club, a big addition to the team, a team that is already formed with a lot of great people.

“Every summer is big because it is an opportunity and especially because of the number of players we have in the squad right now that is necessary. But it’s a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team.”