The 18-year-old, who was born two months into Arsenal’s famous Invincibles season of 2003-04, only entered the field in the 80th minute, before turning Nicolas Pepe’s cross into the corner to cap a good night for Mikel Arteta.
Such was Patino’s potential from a young age that Arsenal paid Luton Town £10,000 to sign him when he was just 11 years old in 2015.
The teenager was named to the Gunners’ squad to face Sunderland to see yet another academy graduate shine after Charlie Patino’s debt against Sunderland.
The sight of Charlie Patino on the Arsenal bench on Tuesday night was a reflection of all of the work that the youngster had put in on the training ground paying off. And when he finally came on in the second half to score on his debut, there wouldn’t have been a dry eye amongst the academy staff, including academy chief Per Mertesacker, after watching yet another player flourish.
Fans inside the Emirates were chanting Charlie Patino’s name when 18-year-old midfielder came off the bench in Arsenal’s eventual 5-1 win over Sunderland, replacing fellow academy product Smith Rowe in the 80th minute over Sunderland.
Scoring the goal, Patino became the youngest player to score on his Arsenal debut since Jon Sammels, who did so all the way back in 1963.
He was joined on the scoresheet by another Arsenal youngster Eddie Nketiah, who netted a hat-trick, as well as Pepe, who scored in the 27th minute.
