Arsenal keeping tabs on Romanian prodigy Ianis Stoica but FCSB won’t sell  

Arsenal are monitoring Romanian wonderkid Ianis Stoica but bosses at his club FCSB are trying to ward the Gunners off the 18-year-old prodigy.

FCSB – the club formerly known as Steaua Bucharest – have confirmed that Arsenal scouts have been keeping tabs on Romania under-21 forward Stoica for two months.

But owner Gigi Becali has warned the Premier League club that Stoica, who made his debut aged 14 and has scored six times in 14 games so far this season, is too young to move to England.

‘It is good that Arsenal are monitoring Ianis, but there is no point as he is not for sale,’ Becali told ProSport.

‘He could be in a year or two, but not yet. He is technically skilled, physically strong and very smart.

‘To look at him, you’d think he is 23 years old, not 18.’

Bucharest-born Stoica, who can play either as a striker or an attacking midfielder, started his career in the academy of Petrolul Ploiesti, where his father Pompiliu played for three years between 2009 and 2012.

Stoica (right), 18, made his senior debut for his club FCSB when he was aged only 14

But when the club folded in 2016, he left for a brief stint with German club Freiburg before returning to his home city to join FCSB.

He was just 14 when he made his senior debut in a Romanian Cup tie in October 2017, the youngest player to feature in a competitive match for the club and also scored in the game.

After four loan spells, mainly in Romania’s second division, Stoica has become a regular for FCSB this season and has become a regular goalscorer, netting six times and claiming two assists.

He has appeared at every youth level for Romania from under-16s to under-21s and is tipped for a bright future.

The owner of FCSB has told Mikel Arteta’s club that Stoica won’t be sold just yet