London, April 14 Academy forward Ceadach O'Neill has signed his first professional contract at Arsenal. The 17-year-old put pen to paper on the deal at Sobha Realty Training Centre last week, which was announced on Monday.
“I'm delighted to be signing my first professional contract,” he said, having moved to Arsenal from Linfield in 2024. “I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge moving over, but I think I settled in well.
“My first game we played West Ham away and I scored two, so it was a good start to the season. I think a winger needs to be able to score goals, so it's something that I'm working on, just trying to get better at in the future.”
Having represented Northern Ireland at youth level, Ceadach spoke about what it means to play for his country.
“I've been playing for Northern Ireland for the last four or five years, so I've made good friends out of it and I really enjoy playing for them, so I like playing for them.”
In a previous interview with Arsenal's 'Young Gun' series, Ceadach revealed that enjoyed watching Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil when he was growing up and he has explained that it all comes down to the support of Arsenal he got from his dad.
“Growing up, my dad supported Arsenal, so I grew up supporting Arsenal and I really liked watching Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil growing up because they were unreal players and I really loved watching them.”
Ceadach has also had the chance to train with Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad during his time at Arsenal, finding himself playing alongside the level of player he used to watch on TV in Ireland.
“It's always a surreal moment just being able to be in the same pitch with the first-teamers, so yeah, I really enjoy growing up with them and learning from them. The rest of this season, I just want to finish it off strong, just keep trying to score goals and get assists and carry on into next season,” he added.
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