{"id":1512,"date":"2026-03-31T05:23:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=1512"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:23:03","slug":"young-gun-saurap-sampang-young-guns-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=1512","title":{"rendered":"Young Gun: Saurap Sampang | Young guns | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Our Young Gun series gets to know the academy youngsters kicking off their careers at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Saurap Sampang spoke to us recently about his near decade of experience at Arsenal, travelling to Brazil and why he looks up to Gabriel Jesus despite being a midfielder.<\/em><\/p>\n

I grew up in Ashford, Kent, and I started playing football when I was about four. My dad bought me a ball, and I just loved being outside, kicking it around whenever I could. He could see how much I enjoyed it, so he signed me up for a Sunday League team, and that\u2019s really where it all began. <\/p>\n

Both of my parents are from Nepal, and I\u2019m incredibly proud of my heritage. It means a lot to me, and I hope I can inspire more South Asian footballers to keep pushing so we see more of us playing at this level. I can speak a bit of the language too, which keeps me connected to my roots.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been an Arsenal fan my whole life. Growing up, I looked up to players like Messi, for me, the best to ever do it. Around the club, I really admired Mesut Ozil. He was a magician on the ball, so composed and effortless in the way he played. Now, I\u2019d say Declan Rice is someone I look up to. I\u2019m a box-to-box central midfielder, and I\u2019d love to model parts of my game on his leadership, his energy and the way he controls matches.<\/p>\n

One of the Sunday League teams I played for was Ashford United. Through playing in tournaments with them, I was scouted by three academies, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal. I trained with all three, but Arsenal just felt right. I felt more comfortable there, and it felt like home. <\/p>\n

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I joined the under-9s, and I\u2019ve been here ever since. I\u2019ve made so many great memories at Hale End, but one that stands out was when we travelled to Brazil at the under-16 level to compete in the Flamengo Adidas Cup, and we won it. Just being in Brazil was incredible. You really feel their passion for football; it\u2019s everywhere you go. We also travelled to Florida, which was another amazing experience. <\/p>\n

I signed my scholarship in the summer, and it was a surreal moment for my family and me. Everyone was so proud. I found out in a meeting, and I was buzzing, but at the same time, I knew that was just the beginning. The real work starts now. Jack Talbot, Brando Bailey-Joseph and Teshaun Murisa have all been here since under-9s, so to now represent the under-18s is really special.<\/p>\n

Since becoming a scholar at Sobha, I feel like I\u2019ve developed massively. I\u2019m learning every single day. It\u2019s challenging at times, but I enjoy that. I embrace those challenges because they\u2019re what push you to improve. <\/p>\n

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“Arsenal just felt right. I felt more comfortable there, and it felt like home.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I haven\u2019t played as many games for the under-18s as I would\u2019ve liked yet, but recently, I\u2019ve had more opportunities with them, which has been a great experience. It\u2019s definitely a step up, but I feel ready for that level now. I just need to keep taking my chances when they come.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also trained with the first team a number of times. It\u2019s tough; you immediately see the difference. The tempo is so much quicker, everyone is sharper, stronger and faster. <\/p>\n

It takes time to adjust, but it\u2019s an incredible experience and gives you a real insight into what\u2019s required to become a Premier League player. Someone who really stands out in training is Gabriel Jesus; he\u2019s unpredictable, so skilful, and his finishing is top-class.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Young Gun series gets to know the academy youngsters kicking off their careers at the Sobha Realty Training Centre. Saurap Sampang spoke to us recently about his near decade … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}