Official: Arsenal have signed 17-year-old LB Marcell Washington son of Chelsea legend Ryan Bertrand!

Marcell Washington signs professional contract

When your dad is a Champions League winner, you might expect to have some big shoes to fill, but that hasn’t stopped Marcell Washington from setting his own ambitions after signing his first professional contract.

The full-back has joined us from Chelsea having played eight matches on trial for the under-21s last season.

The talented teenager is the son of Ryan Bertrand, who started the 2012 final for Chelsea against Bayern Munich and Marcell revealed his father is hoping he can be even better in his own career.

“I think it’s been such an honour to have him take me through clips and walk me through games that I’ve played,” Marcell said on his signing day.

“He’s really passionate about making me a better player and probably a better version of him. We might have a bit of an argument about it but you get it out of him. “

But Marcell isn’t taking his dad’s career for granted and having already trained with the first team, the youngster is looking to make a name for himself and take the next step in his career.

He said: “My ambitions are just to prove in every game you play and every training session you have. I think football is all about proving. I feel like just because I’ve signed this contract doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ve made it.

“I think I’ve got a lot to prove and I’m looking forward to doing that. Hopefully, obviously, the coaching staff can see that through my game.

“It’s a very welcoming club. From day one when I came here, I felt really welcomed. That goes from the staff to the players.

“I think it’s a really big club, obviously. The club are always striving to win trophies. I’m just looking to be an addition to that and see what I can offer the club.”

Jurrien Timber, Ben White and academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly are just three of the players Washington looks up to in our first-team squad, and the youngster hopes he can take inspiration from their journeys to the top.

He added: “They’re all great players that play in and around my position, which I think is a really good thing and training with them and getting the opportunities is really good as well, because you obviously want to learn from players with such experience and such high skill with all of the games.”

Watch Marcell’s full interview by pressing play on the video above

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