Official: Arsenal snap up the new Kvaratskhelia, but fans will have to wait
Arsenal keep playing the long game better than anyone: the Gunners have officially completed the signing of one of Georgia's brightest talents, even though he will not pull on the red and white shirt for another year.
Details: Fabrizio Romano confirms that Arsenal have signed 17-year-old Georgian forward Andria Bartishvili on a deal valid from July 2027. The teenager has completed his move and will officially join the club when he turns 18 next spring. According to earlier reports, the agreement with Iberia 1999 is worth around 4.5 million euros.
So who is the kid Arsenal moved so quickly to lock down? Bartishvili, born on March 30, 2009 in Tbilisi, is an attacking midfielder and right winger who has been turning heads in the Georgian Erovnuli Liga with Iberia 1999, where he plays on loan from Kolkheti 1913. This season he has already scored 3 league goals, featured in Champions League qualifying, including a 3:2 win over Flora, and earned promotion to Georgia's U21 national team despite his age. In his homeland they call him the new Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and the comparison is not just lazy geography: like the PSG superstar, Andria is a left footed dribbler who loves to cut inside and decide games on his own. Transfermarkt currently values him at 1.5 million euros, a figure that will look like a rounding error if he fulfills even half of his promise. For Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, fresh off a Premier League title and a perfect start to the new season, this is another brick in a carefully built future: the club has made a habit of securing elite teenage talent before the rest of Europe's giants even pick up the phone.
It's worth noting that Bartishvili will turn 18 on March 30, 2027, which is why his contract with Arsenal only comes into force in July 2027: FIFA rules prohibit international transfers of players under 18.
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Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
