Fulham have lost a potentially exciting prospect as Mika Biereth has swapped Craven Cottage for the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal have snapped the forward up.

Despite being offered a professional contract with the Cottagers, 18-year-old Biereth has opted to switch to the Gunners to pen his first deal as a senior player.

Biereth appeared twice for Fulham's under-18 outfit as a 15-year-old in the 2018-19 season in the youth Premier League, and the following campaign his appearance count rose to 10 with two goals added to that.

The 2020-21 season in the under-18 Premier League though saw Biereth rise to prominence in terms of academy football with a quite simply sensational season.

According to transfermarkt, Biereth scored 21 goals in as many games as a striker and added to that tally with 13 assists, proving himself to be the most prolific and creative forward at that level.

It clearly attracted Arsenal's interest and Biereth has now made the switch across London where he will be hoping to make an impact at under-23 level.

The Verdict

Clearly the allure of a big club like Arsenal was too good to turn down for Biereth, but the pathway into the first-team is going to be a tough one.

There is obviously Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as well as younger strikers in Eddie Nketiah and Folarin Balogun, but you'd expect Biereth to get some good game-time in the under-23's.

Fulham will be disappointed that he turned down their offer, and there's a case to be made that Biereth would've been better staying at the Cottagers, especially as we saw youngster Fabio Carvalho break through at the end of last season.

There was no guarantee that the same would've happened to Biereth next season but his goalscoring exploits last season in the under-18's would've surely seen him given a chance - we won't get to find out now though.