Arsenal recall Miguel Azeez amid midfield crisis | OneFootball

Arsenal have confirmed the loan recall of Miguel Azeez, with Danny Cowley suggesting they were waiting for the right moment to do so.

Miguel Azeez playing for Portsmouth (Photo via Azeez on Twitter)

Posting on the club website on Monday, Arsenal confirmed the loan recall of Miguel Azeez from Portsmouth.

The midfielder made 10 appearances for the League One club, but he evidently didn’t nail down a spot in the way the Gunners wanted.

Last week, Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley had suggested that Arsenal were waiting for the right moment to recall him.

“I think we are waiting for Arsenal on that so I don’t think I can speak about that at the moment,” Cowley said.

“It is always for the two clubs to decide when they are going to announce it and I don’t think it suits Arsenal at the moment.”

It wasn’t much of a secret that Azeez was returning, with widespread reports and his absence from Portsmouth’s matchday squads.

But it would obviously have complicated Arsenal’s request for the postponement of the North London derby.

Even though he’s an u23 with just seven minutes of competitive football for Arsenal (against Dundalk in the Europa League), Azeez technically would have counted towards the club’s available outfield player total.

So it was better to wait to recall him, rather than forcing the game on so Pablo Mari could play at right-back and Ben White could play in midfield in a North London derby.