{"id":16253,"date":"2026-07-10T23:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16253"},"modified":"2026-07-10T23:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:21:09","slug":"big-6-clubs-battle-to-sign-free-agent-starlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16253","title":{"rendered":"Big 6 Clubs \u2018Battle\u2019 To Sign Free Agent Starlet"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The summer transfer window is ongoing. In the Premier League, a trio of top teams are aiming to sign a wonderkid defender who most recently played for Tottenham Hotspur \u2013 Elijah Upson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An England U18s centre-back who already has one goal to his name on the international stage, he is a highly-rated prospect with bags of potential in the modern game.<\/p>\n

According to a report from the Daily Mail, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are looking to snap up the now-former Spurs man. He left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after rejecting a professional contract from the Lilywhites.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, his gamble seems to be paying off. There is seemingly no end of interest into the availability of his services \u2013 Bayern Munich are also thought to be in the race.<\/p>\n

On top of this, journalist Simon Jones reported that Everton, Monaco, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund could also be in the mix as things stand. <\/p>\n

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Defender Elijah Upson \u2013 son of Matthew \u2013 has visited Arsenal’s training ground as he considers his next move after leaving Spurs. The 18-year-old has plenty of suitors with Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, Bayern, Dortmund, Leipzig and Monaco all registering their interest.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Simon Jones (@SimonJones_DM) July 10, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

However, of all the clubs interested, Arsenal seem to have the edge. The Gunners\u2019 interest has also been the most long-standing \u2013 it was first reported by The Sun back in June.<\/p>\n

In an ironic twist, he may be set to join Spurs\u2019 greatest rivals \u2013 he has allegedly already visited their training ground ahead of a possible switch.<\/p>\n

Elijah Upson U18 Premier League 2025\/26 stats<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\nGames<\/td>\nGoals<\/td>\nAssists<\/td>\nY. Cards<\/td>\nR. Cards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
E. Upson<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

What would Elijah Upson bring to Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City?<\/h2>\n

Being just 18 years of age, Upson is understandably raw, but could be polished into a top talent. He is very quick \u2013 The Metro claims he was an 100m national sprint champion whilst at school.<\/p>\n

His timing is impressive, as is his technical ability \u2013 he can win back possession and turn defence into attack within second as a result of these two attributes. On top of this, he can pick out a longe-range pass \u2013 he isn\u2019t restricted to playing short layoffs.<\/p>\n

A brave, tenacious defender who is happy to put his body on the line, he has all the skills he needs to make it at the highest level of the game. Furthermore, due to his pace, he could theoretically fill in at right-back, despite being a natural centre-back.<\/p>\n

Who is Elijah Upson\u2019s father Matthew Upson?<\/h2>\n

The father of Elijah, Matthew Upson, was a highly-accomplished defender in both the Premier League and the England national team. <\/p>\n

Winning 21 caps for his country and playing for teams such as Arsenal, West Ham United and Birmingham City, he was generally characterised as a defender ahead of his time. <\/p>\n

All in all, Upson made an impressive 289 Premier League appearances over the course of his career, scoring nine goals along the way. Additionally, he also made 73 appearances in the Championship, ending his career at MK Dons in 2016.<\/p>\n

A strong passer of the ball who combined his technical ability with defensive solidity, he was part of the Gunners squad that won the Premier League title at the end of the 2001\/02 season.<\/p>\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The summer transfer window is ongoing. In the Premier League, a trio of top teams…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}