EXCLUSIVE: CHUCKS ANEKE - ARSENAL'S NEW VIERA

Aneke joined Arsenal in 2001, age seven, and progressed through the ranks. He made his reserves debut against Maidenhead United in a pre-season friendly on 28 July 2009. Both Aneke and Benik Afobe were offered the chance to visit FC Barcelona's training base with view to signing for them. However, he signed a professional contract with Arsenal in July 2010.
Ahead of 2011–12 season, Aneke signed a contract extension with the club. He scored for Arsenal's reserve side in friendly victories against Woking, Hastings United, and Stevenage respectively.

 He made his competitive first-team debut for Arsenal in the club's 3–1 League Cup victory against Shrewsbury Town on 20 September 2011, coming on as a 90th minute substitute in the match.

Club Career

Aneke joined League One side Stevenage on 22 November 2011, on a loan deal until 22 January 2012. He made his debut for the club on 26 November, in Stevenage's 0–0 home draw with Walsall, playing 57 minutes of the match before being replaced by Darius Charles. Aneke was sent-off for a high-footed challenge in a 1–0 defeat to Leyton Orient on 2 January 2012, resulting in a three-game suspension. It was later announced, on 20 January, that Aneke would remain on loan at Stevenage until March 2012, with a view to extending the loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.Aneke returned to his parent club on 5 March, and, on the same day, scored in a 2–0 reserve victory against Chelsea reserves.

Linking-up with his manager at Stevenage, Graham Westley, on 22 March 2012 Aneke joined League One team Preston North End on-loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. On 24 March he made a scoring debut in a 1-1 draw against Bury.He went on to start once more before dropping to the bench for the subsequent six games.

Style of play
Aneke is a player known for his pace, power and stamina. He has been compared to fellow Arsenal team mate Abou Diaby. Arsène Wenger also compared his style of play as similar to that of Manchester City's Yaya Touré,a player that Wenger had intended to sign in 2005 but failed when the player could not secure a work permit.

National Team
Aneke has represented England at various youth levels. He was part of the England U-17 squad that qualified for the 2010 European Championship. However, Aneke was not in England's squad for the finals due to injury. He was replaced by Saido Berahino as England went on to win the tournament.

Despite rumours that he had switched allegiances to Nigeria, Aneke was selected for the England U-19 team for a friendly against the Netherlands.

Recent Performance

He will be pleased with his injury-time winner in Arsenal's 2-1 exhibition win over Malaysian XI on Tuesday, a superb bit of opportunism that may just mark midfielder Chuks Aneke's march toward first-team football.

Having come on as a halftime substitute, as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made wholesale changes—after all, this was an exhibition—Aneke made sure to make his mark before the final whistle had gone.

And for a club that has long been derided for a perceived desire to walk the ball into the net, thus favoring perfection over simple production, to see a youngster engage in some good old-fashioned speculative shooting was quite refreshing.

Just 19 (he celebrated his birthday on July 3), Aneke already has the physical ability to impose himself upon matches.

With the number of talented holding midfield players Arsenal have at the moment, Aneke might find it difficult to crack the first team outside of certain cup competitions, but it will be fun to keep tabs on his development.

We hope he 'll eventually get to play some matches for Arsenal this coming season and live up to theexpectation of being touted as the 'New Viera'