Andria Bartishvili: Who Is Arsenal’s Georgian Wonderkid Hit by Injury?

So Andria Bartishvili is trending in Nigeria, and if you are an Arsenal fan you already know why. The Georgian teenager Arsenal agreed to sign has picked up an ankle ligament injury and could be out for two to three months, before he has even kicked a ball for the Gunners. Plenty of people are asking who this boy is, so let me tell you everything about him.

Quick facts

• Full name: Andria Bartishvili
• Born: 30 March 2009
• Nationality: Georgian
• Age: 17
• Position: Attacking midfielder or left winger
• Current club: Iberia 1999, on loan from Kolkheti 1913
• Future club: Arsenal, from July 2027
• Reported fee: around £4 million
• Nickname given by fans: the new Kvaratskhelia

Dinamo Tbilisi academy

Bartishvili came through the youth academy of Dinamo Tbilisi, one of the biggest clubs in Georgia. He was winning awards from very small. At ten years old he was named Player of the 2018 Bendela Cup, a tournament for under-10 and under-11 teams. The next year he was top scorer and best striker at the Qabala Unity Cup and then best midfielder at the under-11 Ateitis Cup in Lithuania.

It kept going. In 2022 he was voted best player when Dinamo’s under-13s won a tournament in Batumi, and in April 2023 he got the same award at a competition in Italy even though his team finished fourth. In 2024 the Georgian Football Federation gave him the Aleksandre Chivadze silver medal for under-17 players.

Kolkheti 1913 and the youngest debut

Before the 2025 season he moved to Kolkheti 1913, and a Georgian paper named him among six young players to watch that year. On 1 April 2025 he made his debut in the Erovnuli Liga, the Georgian top league, in a 1-0 away win over Samgurali. He was just 16 years and two days old, the youngest player in the league that season. At the end of 2025 he was named the best under-17 player in Georgia and got the gold medal.

On loan at Iberia 1999

In January 2026 he joined Iberia 1999 on a year long loan. He scored his first league goal on 20 May 2026 in a 1-0 win over Gagra. Iberia have been playing in the UEFA Conference League this season, which means he has been getting European football at 17, which is very rare.

Arsenal come calling

Lots of big European clubs were watching him, and Liverpool were one of the names mentioned. But on 11 September 2026 Arsenal announced they had agreed to sign him. Because of the rules on young players he cannot move until he turns 18, so the transfer will happen in July 2027, for a reported fee of around £4 million.

He is part of a group of young players Arsenal have lined up, together with Victor Ozhianvuna from Shamrock Rovers and the Ecuadorian twins Holger and Edwin Quintero from Independiente. Mikel Arteta said the club needs to be one of the best in the world at recruiting talent, both at home and abroad, to keep the level high.

Georgia national teams

He has played for Georgia at under-15, under-16 and under-17 level. In the 2024-25 under-17 qualifiers he started all five games and scored twice, his first goal coming against Slovenia on 9 October 2024. In June 2025 he scored two against Kazakhstan’s under-17s at a tournament in Qabala, and that is when people started calling him the new Kvaratskhelia, after the Georgian star. On 27 March 2026 he made his under-21 debut against Latvia, and he now has two under-21 caps. Georgia under-21 coach Ramaz Svanadze said he has the talent and the mentality to play at the highest level for Arsenal, and that adapting to the intensity of English football will be his biggest challenge.

Timeline

• 2009: Born on 30 March
• 2018: Player of the Bendela Cup at age ten
• 2024: Wins the Aleksandre Chivadze silver medal, first under-17 goal for Georgia
• 2025: Joins Kolkheti 1913, league debut at 16, named Georgia’s best under-17 player
• 2026: Loan to Iberia 1999 in January, under-21 debut in March, first league goal in May
• September 2026: Arsenal agree to sign him from July 2027
• November 2026: Ankle ligament injury rules him out for two to three months

Why he is trending right now

Iberia 1999 confirmed on social media that his MRI scan showed damage to the anterior talofibular ligament, which is one of the main ligaments on the outside of the ankle. Reports say he could miss two to three months, which means he may miss the rest of Iberia’s Conference League league phase. The club says he will go through treatment and rehabilitation in Georgia and should be back before the end of the season.

For Arsenal it is not a disaster, he was never going to play for them until next summer, but it is bad timing for a young player getting valuable European minutes. If his recovery goes to plan, he will join Arteta’s squad in July 2027 and could get his first Arsenal action in pre-season. Gunners fans, keep his name in mind, you will be hearing it again.