Charlie Michael Patino ( gl, Patiño; born 17 October 2003) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Watford, Patino started his career at St Albans City, before joining Luton Town at the age of seven. At 11 years old he signed for

in 2015 for a £10,000 fee.

Arsenal

Patino rose quickly through the ranks at Arsenal, featuring for the under-18 side at the age of only 14. He is seen as one of Arsenal's most promising youth prospects, with head of scouting at Arsenal, Sean O’Connor, describing him as the "best player who has ever walked through the doors at Hale End", and Arsenal scout Brian Stapleton calling him "the best kid I've ever seen." He signed his first professional contract with Arsenal in October 2020. In the same month, he was included in ''The Guardians "Next Generation" 2020 list, as one of the best young players emerging from Premier League clubs' academies. On 21 December, Patino made his senior debut for Arsenal in a 5–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

quarter-final victory against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, scoring the final goal of the game at the end of the second-half, shortly after replacing fellow academy graduate

Emile Smith Rowe Emile Smith Rowe (born 28 July 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Arsenal and the England national team. Smith Rowe was a highly anticipated youth player at Arsenal, whilst a ...

. On 9 January 2022, Patino was a starter in a 1–0 FA Cup third-round loss to Nottingham Forest.

Loan to Blackpool

On 3 August 2022, Patino signed on loan for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for the duration of the 2022–23 season. He made his debut on 6 August at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, replacing Lewis Fiorini in the second half. Three days later, he made his first start on his

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

debut against

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in the

first round. Patino scored his first goal for Blackpool on 17 September in their 2–1 defeat at Millwall. He also scored once and provided an assist for

Jerry Yates Jerry Aaron Yates (born 10 November 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Swansea City. He has previously played for Rotherham United, Harrogate Town, Carlisle United, Swindon Town and Blackpool. Career ...

in the 4–2 win against West Lancashire rivals

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

at Bloomfield Road. Loan to Swansea City On 11 August, 2023,

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

announced they had signed Patino on a season-long loan. He made his debut the following day in a 3–2 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, coming on as a substitute for

Harrison Ashby Harrison Charles Ashby (born 14 November 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Swansea City, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United. Born in England, he is a youth international for Scotland. Club c ...

and providing an assist for Harry Darling. A week later, he made his first start and

debut against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win against Sheffield Wednesday on 23 September.

International career

Patino has represented England at under-15, under-16 and under-17 level. He remains eligible for Spain through his father holding a Spanish passport, and the Spanish FA have reportedly made attempts to get him to switch allegiance. On 9 October 2021, Patino made his debut for the England U19s during a 3–1 victory against Mexico in Marbella. On 21 September 2022, Patino made his England U20 debut as a substitute during a 3–0 victory over Chile at the

Pinatar Arena The Pinatar Arena is an association football stadium located in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain. The 3,000-seat stadium is part of the larger Pinatar Arena Football Center which also includes a sports club, hotel, training fields, and other a ...

. On 11 September 2023, Patino made his

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

debut as a substitute during a 3-0

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...

win away to Luxembourg.

Style of play

A ball-playing midfielder, Patino has stated that former Arsenal players Santi Cazorla and Cesc Fàbregas are influences in his style of play. Through his youth career, he was dubbed 'the next Frenkie De Jong' by fans, as his playstyle was seen as 'eerily close' to the former- Ajax midfielder.

Media

Patino was involved in the

Amazon Original In 2013, Amazon.com began distributing original television shows through its Amazon Prime Video service, some of which are developed in-house by Amazon Studios. Original programming Drama Comedy Animation Adult animation Anime Kids & fa ...

sports docuseries '' All or Nothing: Arsenal'', which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season. Patino also appeared on Series 1 of the docuseries Inside Hale End, which documented Arsenal's academy set-up and gave an exclusive view into the Hale End campus, featuring interviews with players and coaching staff.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patino, Charlie 2003 births Living people Footballers from Watford English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Spanish descent Men's association football midfielders St Albans City F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players English Football League players England men's under-21 international footballers