Arsenal activate clause to recall striker after stellar scoring record on loan

Arsenal's teenage striker Nikolaj Moller has returned to north London after what was meant to be a season-long loan spell with German outfit Viktoria Koln has instead been ended prematurely by the Gunners hierarchy.

Moller arrived at Arsenal in October 2020 having caught the eye of club scouts while plying his trade for Swedish side Malmo and has since been a regular fixture in the Gunners' under-23 team.

After a string of impressive displays for the Arsenal youth side, Moller earned himself a loan deal that presented him with the chance to get some minutes at senior level under his belt in the third tier of German football with Viktoria Koln at the start of this season.

However, he will not see out the entirety of the campaign with them due to Arsenal activating a recall clause to bring him back earlier than expected, as per football.london.

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Arsenal's Hale End academy is arguably the best youth set-up in the Premier League, producing top-tier talent such as Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.

There is a whole host of promising talent coming through the ranks behind the likes of Smith Rowe and Saka in the red half of north London, as explained by the club's Head of Emerging Talent Yousuf Sajjad.

Sajjad singled out Moller for praise, telling football.london: "All of the boys that have come in, show champion mentality as that is a pre-requisite to any player we look to sign.

"From the lads above to Nikolaj Moller, who is an unbelievable human being as well as being a player with elite potential.

"To Joel Ideho, Omar Rekik who have all had to move country and adapt to a completely different ways of living.

"They all show exciting potential, individual qualities as footballers/fit the profile of what we look for in our first team

"But most importantly - highlight the respect, discipline, humility that is key to success within our academy to become a strong young Gunner."

Moller notched three goals in 13 outings for Viktoria Koln, but is now likely to continue his development with his parent club for the foreseeable future.

Though breaking into the Arsenal first team fold anytime soon seems unlikely, Moller may view now as good a time as any as manager Mikel Arteta is staring down the barrel of a forward line crisis.

Ex-club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been exiled, while both Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are both in the latter stages of their respective contracts.

With the amount of cup games Arsenal have in January, Moller could be deployed at some stage.