Arsenal's striker search turns to Championship wonderkid dubbed 'next Jamie Vardy'

Arsenal are reportedly eyeing a move for highly-rated youngster Harvey Higgins, who has earned comparisons to . The 16-year-old striker has been making waves at Blackburn and has also featured at youth level for .

Higgins has also caught the eye of sponsors, having signed a contract with sportswear giant Puma, and are one of several clubs said to be interested in his services. According to the , Serie A clubs are ready to rival Arsenal for the striker.

However, the Gunners are hoping to conclude a deal 'in the next few weeks' which could see Blackburn earn up to £1.5million in compensation. The report adds that Blackburn are also facing a fight to keep hold of 16-year-old defender Silver Eze.

Eze only joined Blackburn from in November, but the Italian youth international is already said to be attracting interest from 'big clubs'.

Higgins made his debut for Blackburn's Under-21s at the age of just 15 in December and scored as they drew 4-4 with Preston North End. Eze also made his Under-21s debut in that match and head coach Mike Sheron was full of praise for the two teenagers.

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"First and foremost, it was delightful to see some really young lads get on and cope well,” Sheron told the . "We had a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old finishing the game and it's great to see some of the talent we still have coming through the Academy and getting the opportunities.

"To see Harvey score with more or less his first touch was great and we started the game well, scoring in the first minute. I felt they were probably the better side in the first half, they dominated the possession a lot more than we'd have liked them to and maybe their experience was showing more.

"You've got to give our lads a lot of credit because we had words at half-time about how we were going to stop the tide and it was great to see the substitutes work. To equalise, go 3-2 up and then 4-3 up, I thought we showed good spirit tonight and I was really pleased with how the second half went.

"I was just disappointed with the game management at the end, but you've got to expect that with a young side. We were really pleased with the positives going forward, but we were pretty disappointing on transitions and a little too open."

Arsenal, meanwhile, are following the appointment of Andrea Berta as the club's' new sporting director. "It's going to be a big one and we are very excited about it," Arteta said.

"The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different.

"But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step. I think Andrea is a big addition to the club, a big addition to the team, a team that is already formed with a lot of great people.

"Every summer is big because it is an opportunity and especially because of the number of players we have in the squad right now that is necessary. But it's a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team."

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