REUELL WALTERS is the Arsenal starlet who was cast aside by Manchester United and Tottenham and made a major contribution to video game Fortnite.
The 18-year-old full-back is on the brink of making his first-team debut having featured regularly in the Gunners’ matchday squads this season.
Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff have been thoroughly impressed by what they’ve seen of the teenager, although that couldn’t be said of the Premier League leaders’ rivals Manchester United and Tottenham.
Walters was on the books at Tottenham from the age of ten and quickly began playing with older age groups after impressing in the North Londoners’ Under-11s side.
But his stint with Spurs came to an end four years later when the club opted not to renew his contract, which led to him joining Manchester United’s youth ranks.
Walters was given a baptism of fire when he was chucked into the under-15s trip to Northern Ireland to play in the Milk Cup.
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The defender flourished as a junior Red Devil, so much so that the Prem giants wanted to retain his services by offering him a schoolboy contract.
But Walters was left in a state of limbo when the Premier League rejected United’s attempts to register him after having already met their quota for schoolboys.
And they didn’t pursue Walters after a space came free – deciding another position was more important.
With football on the back burner, Walters – like many kids his age – began playing Fortnite.
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And in November 2019, he got an email from the game’s creators to say he’d made £16 for his RJW’s BoxPVP map.
Dad Rapahel told The Athletic: “He said ‘I just made $20 for my map.’
“People are in my map and when they buy stuff with their V-Bucks, I get a commission, so I made $20’.”
A whopping 250 million people ended up downloading Walter’s map – which led to him pocketing a cool £8,860 ($11,000).
Walter’s parents didn’t let video games get in the way of their son’s dream of playing professional football and got him one-on-one coaching.
And trainer Saul Isaksson-Hurst eventually convinced Arsenal’s head of talent ID, Lee Herron, to take a look at the teen.
Herron liked what he saw and invited Walters for a trial in August 2020, although it was delayed as the Premier League launched an investigation to see if he’d been tapped up.
And after impressing the Gunners’ youth coaches with a string of solid displays, Walters inked an Under-16s deal with the club.
Mum Aisha recalled: “We said, ‘We don’t want to make a commitment to a club that doesn’t believe in him.
“If you believe in pro, you’ll offer it to him when we cross that threshold.
“We don’t want it because we negotiated it; we want it because you believed in him.’
“That was quite a refreshing conversation on both sides of the table.”
Walters penned a professional contract with the North Londoners in 2022 and hasn’t looked back since.
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He’s now well and truly the understudy of England and Japan internationals Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
And if his recent inclusions in the matchday squads are anything to go by, it won’t be too long before he makes his first-team bow.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
