6 Promising Players in Arsenal's Youth Team to Keep an Eye on

Arsenal are renowned for their phenomenal academy.

While other clubs buy stars, the Gunners forge them at their London Colney training ground, developing precocious talents into first-team players.

Over the next six slides, we identify some of the most exciting prospects currently in Arsenal's youth team. These are the tyros who could one day be seen tearing up the Premier League. 

Gedion Zelalem

Gedion Zelalem is experiencing a meteoric rise.

Several months ago, few Arsenal fans were even aware of the arrival of the German-born Ethiopian raised in the United States. After some glittering preseason performances, Gunners supporters are queueing up to hail the youngster dubbed "The New Cesc Fabregas."

Zelalem shares Fabregas' extraordinary vision and immaculate passing. He will need to bulk up if he is to survive in the Premier League; however, once he marries his technical excellence with physical power, he will likely be a star for the Gunners. 

Hector Bellerin

Like Cesc Fabregas before him, Spanish youth international Hector Bellerin left behind Barcelona's La Masia academy to move to Arsenal in his mid-teens.

Since then, Bellerin has developed encouragingly to become one of the most exciting young right-backs in Britain. Bellerin has spent much of his young career as a winger, and that marauding spirit still lingers. He can often be spotted charging forward to help support the attack with overlapping runs.

With Bacary Sagna approaching the end of his career, Bellerin will hope to challenge Carl Jenkinson to be the Frenchman's long-term successor. 

Serge Gnabry

Serge Gnabry has started three of Arsenal's four preseason matches thus far. The German winger could be forgiven for wondering if this might be his season.

Gnabry made a couple of fleeting first-team appearances last year, in which he demonstrated his intoxicating combination of balance, trickery and strength. Like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, he has both the technical skill to deceive a man and the power to simply speed past him.

Gnabry will be hoping that 2013/14 is the season his unpronounceable name becomes unforgettable. 

Thomas Eisfeld

Despite only making a handful of first-team appearances, Thomas Eisfeld has already developed something of a cult following among the Arsenal faithful.

His attributes are immediately obvious. Incisive passing is twinned with intelligent movement and an eye for a goal. His knack of arriving in the penalty box at the optimum moment is not dissimilar to that of Freddie Ljungberg.

If Eisfeld is able to emulate Ljungberg's Arsenal achievements, he will surely succeed the Swede as a hero among Gunners supporters. 

Damian Martinez

Despite being only 20, Damian Martinez has already been called up to the full Argentina squad. That tells you something about how highly regarded this South American shot-stopper is.

Martinez made a couple of Capital One Cup appearances for Arsenal in 2012/13, including playing in the remarkable 7-5 match with Reading. He will hope that future Arsenal performances don't feature quite so many marks in the "goals against" column.

The biggest barrier to Martinez's progression is the presence of Wojciech Szczesny, who is still just 23. However, if Martinez does get another chance, expect him to seize it with a pair of increasingly assured hands.

Chuba Akpom

Chuba Akpom has been one of the surprise stars of Arsenal's tour of Asia.

The powerful forward is a prodigious talent. He first played for Arsenal's U-18 side aged just 15.

The versatile striker was an unexpected choice to travel to Asia but repaid Arsene Wenger's faith by outscoring the likes of Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski. 

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here.