‘Hale End’s best ever player’ mounting promotion push at fallen Champions League giants

Charlie Patino left Arsenal in 2024 for regular first-team action and is now thriving at a former Champions League title contender.

The midfielder joined the Gunners academy from Luton Town at the age of 11 and became a hugely exciting prospect in north London.

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Patino actually played for the U18s side when he was four years their junior, so it’s no surprise he received plaudits from club staff.

Shaun O’Connor, a senior academy scout at Arsenal, once said he is ‘the best player who has ever walked through the doors at Hale End’.

His senior debut arrived in December 2021 during a 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Sunderland, during which he scored their fifth goal.

However, Patino made only one further appearance for the Arsenal first team and had loan spells at Blackpool and Swansea City.

A third temporary move did not interest him, so a permanent switch to Deportivo de La Coruna was completed in August 2024.

Now in his second season at the Spanish outfit, the 22-year-old is en route to LaLiga football as Herculinos sit fourth in the second tier.

Patino has made 20 league appearances for a Deportivo side who are eyeing promotion to the top flight eight years after their relegation.

European football expert Andy Brassell told talkSPORT.com: “I’ve been gently encouraged by what I’ve seen of him this season.

“And after taking a season to settle, he’s been good this season. He’s been important to Deportivo, they’re mounting a real promotion push.

“What would be really interesting is to see them get promoted and play lots of games in LaLiga and see where they go from there. That would be really interesting.”

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The Deportivo decline

Despite the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid, Deportivo have had their own taste of success in Spanish football.

They were Copa del Rey champions in 1995 and 2002, with their first and only ever LaLiga title being won during the 1999/00 campaign.

A stunning Champions League triumph appeared to be on the cards in 2004 as they reached the semi-finals.

However, they lost 1-0 on aggregate by eventual winners Porto, who were managed by the legendary Jose Mourinho.

Deportivo eventually fell into the third tier, but fought their way back to the Segunda Division and are now eyeing a LaLiga return.

“This is a big club,” Brassell said of Deportivo, whose Estadio Riazor home has been earmarked as a venue for the 2030 World Cup.

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“You go back to the turn of the century and they were winning the title consistently in the Champions League. They could have been the team that won it in 2004 when Porto won it. They were just edged out in a really tight semi-final and they weren’t that far away at all.

“The thing with Deportivo, it was always going to be difficult to hold onto the balloon as they went higher and higher really. This is a club that is quite isolated geographically in Spain. There’s a limit to how much you can grow it.

“If you go back and look at the president, Lendoiro, who had the club during the glory years of Eurodeport. He was not someone who was a rich benefactor himself. He was good at persuading other people to invest and other people to put their money in.

“Bear in mind, some of the players they had in the 90s, building up to that crescendo at the start of the 21st century, they had Bababeto, they had Rivaldo. They had some great players really. Some brilliant sides.

“You think of the time they went and beat Arsenal at Highbury and Thierry Henry walked out of it saying they’re maybe the best team in Europe. Juan Carlos Valadon, who was a prince in midfield, is maybe the best midfielder in Europe.

“They’ve dropped a long way from there, but they’ve done the difficult bit in getting out of the third tier because that is really hard. You can finish top of the league and not necessarily get promoted because there are loads of parallel leagues.

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“Getting back out of there was tough and they’ve done that bit. They stayed professional in a semi-pro environment to do that.

“They’re building towards being something important in Spanish football again. The best way to do that is with young players.”

Speaking further on Patino, he said: “He’s surrounded by other good young players. You look at Yerame, who’s been really good this season and has attracted a lot of Premier League interest.

“He’s up there amongst the top scorers in the division.

“If they can keep together that young core, Patino included, I think they’re in third position at the moment, and have a go in La Liga next season if they go up, it would be really interesting to see how he got on over there.”