Arsenal U21 left back Elian Quesada-Thorn has left London and joined Costa Rican club Liga Deportiva Alajuelense on a two year contract. The 20-year old has been with the Gunners for ten years and rose up through the academy.
Quesada-Thorn began his football journey with a Sunday league team called Whetstone Wanderers at six years old and played there for a “good five years or so”. He then had a friendly match against the Arsenal academy where the left-back had a brilliant game which led to the Gunners offering him a trial at the club. After his successful trial he then joined the Gunners in 2015.
After developing with the academy Quesada-Thorn then made his first professional contract on July 6, 2023 which he described as a great moment for him and that he has “dreamt of this moment” since he started training at Hale End. He then added, “I love this club, I’m a boyhood fan, as soon as they offered, I felt like there was no question”. He made his Premier League U18 debut on April 14, 2021 against Leicester City and then his Premier League 2 debut came on January 10, 2022 against Liverpool where he played the full 90 minutes. Last season he made seven appearances in the Premier League 2 and two appearances in the UEFA Youth League.
Quesada-Thorn is eligible to represent England, Costa Rica, Ireland and Sweden however only the Costa Rican Football federation have reached out to him. In January 2022, Quesada-Thorn was called up to the U-20 national team to play in two unofficial friendlies against Mexico. In September 2023, he was called up to the Costa Rican senior national team for two friendlies against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however he had to leave the squad due to injury.
Regarding the transfer fee to Alajuelense, sporting director Carlos Vela revealed that Quesada-Thorn joined the club on a free transfer. Arsenal negotiated a future sell-on clause, meaning they would receive a percentage of a transfer fee if Quesada-Thorn is sold to another club afterwards. Carlos Vela stated that this made the transfer cost-free for Alajuelense while still giving Arsenal the potential to financially benefit from their former academy player.