Arsenal sign 10-year-old wonderkid Leo Messo as he poses with Per Mertesacker and is gifted special 99 FIFA card

ARSENAL have signed 10-year-old wonderkid Leo Messo, presenting him with a special FIFA card upon his arrival.

The young prospect was given a tour of the academy set-up and met former Gunners centre-back Per Mertesacker in the process.

Mertesacker is the current academy manager of Arsenal and so will oversee the progression of their newest recruit.

The pair had a photo taken together as Messo held up a personalised Arsenal shirt with No9 on the back.

The young Kenyan wore an Arsenal tracksuit while being shown around his new club.

At the end of the video, he can then be seen posing with a FIFA card with his face on.

And Arsenal had it specially made so that all his attributes were 99.

The Gunners have an impressive reputation for bringing academy players through in recent years.

Current first team stars such as Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah have all come through the youth team at Arsenal.

And historically many Gunners legends have joined as youngsters including Martin Keown, Tony Adams and Ray Parlour.

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Meanwhile, former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger revealed in 2018 how they missed out on Barcelona legend Lionel Messi.

Wenger, who managed the team from 1996 to 2018, spoke before he left the Emirates about how close he got to signing both the Argentine and defender Gerard Pique.

Speaking initially about Cesc Fabregas, Wenger said: "The story of Cesc Fabregas is that Franny Cagiago and Steve Rowley brought the player here and we had to convince him.

"I met Cesc’s parents and at the time we were interested in Messi and Pique as well. We tried for the three but of course it didn’t work out, but we got a gem there in Cesc and he is an exceptional player. A brain for football.

"[It didn’t work out with Messi and Pique] because of the agents. I think it was linked with Nike at the time and they wanted Pique to go to Man United.

"With Messi, Barcelona didn’t want to lose him of course and they made [the offer] that was needed to keep the player at the club.

"I don’t really know if Messi was interested… I couldn’t get close to try to force the deal because Barcelona stopped that possibility very early."

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