Are Arsenal going to lose another top starlet to due to lack of games?

Arsenal have had lots of talented youngsters coming through the Hale End Academy, and the whole point of staying with us is because Arsene wenger had a big reputation for blooding youngsters in the first team, usually via playing in the League Cup.

But now there seem to be more and more highly-rated youngster’s moving away from the Gunners in search of opportunities elsewhere. Famously in January Marcus McGuane even joined Barcelona rather than stay with us, and he said afterwards: “I was getting frustrated by a lack of opportunities. It is good to train but I did not want my performance to plateau and stay at the same level. This step made sense. There’s no grudge but I felt the best thing was to find another way. If you want to be at a place to develop and get first-team football, maybe you have to look elsewhere than Arsenal.”

Last summer, there was also a mass exodus of promising youngsters, Chris Willock was sold to Benfica, Kaylen Hinds went to Wolfsburg for £2m, Donyel Mallen and Dan Crowley moved to Holland in search of first team football, and the latest one of our most promising players, Reiss Nelson, is apparently being courted by Real Madrid and PSG.

The 18 year Nelson was promoted to the first team this season, but has only made 5 starts in the Europa League and League Cup early rounds but despite impressing everyone he has hardly been given his fair share of opportunities. He has only 15 months left on his contract and like McGuane he may have already decided to move on this summer rather than stagnate on the Arsenal bench. And I am sure he will not be the only one….

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21 Comments

  1. well …this cant be help….players need games to improve

    besides the fans always want the club to buy ready made players….

  2. If he goes he just needs to find a manager who believes in wingers. I honestly believe that if Wenger had Salah, Mane or Sane at his disposal he would attempt to convert them into wingbacks. Nelson may have had 5 goes for the first team but unfortunately the team was never set up for a winger so if Nelson goes no one should blame him as he was not given a fair crack of the whip. Maybe he’ll follow his buddy Jadon Sancho and others and go to an overseas club.

    1. We can loan him out for a couple of seasons so yes we can blame him, we gave him a great chance in life, worked with people who put allot of time into him and who gave him second to none type facilities. He was never left wanting, we took care of him and his family. He should sign and be eager to do so, then he can choose to wait for first team opportunities or if moving to another team for the season is what he wants. Arsenal give youngsters more chances than any other club our size, maybe even more than any team in Prem. For ten years now Arsenal have been playing and promoting youngsters. Iwobi Bellerin Niles, Wilshere and Ramsey even, Holding Chambers, these are all examples of Arsenal giving young players chances to grow with us. Nketiah Bielik Martinez Willock and Nelson, if any of them become good enough they will get their chance. Nelson needs to be thankful and work even harder now, it’s a different category of player he’s vying with, he needs to make it almost impossible to be overlooked. It’s up to him, he’s fighting a check-book with half of Europe’s names possibly on it, he should not want it handed to him.

  3. This is a very tough call.You can understand the players frustration.Thete is no doubt he has great ability and potential but he is still young and developing and it has been proved in the past that putting them in too young can sometimes prove highly detrimental to their progress.
    We can use him from the bench in league games now as we will no doubt be concentrating on the Europa Cup.This should at least give him an opportunity to taste the bigger games.If the club gave him a bigger contract with the promise of more game times next season you would hope this would show the Clubs commitment to him.
    I’ve seen this boy play at Youth Team Level and trust me he could very well turn into a very talented player.But he is NOT a wing back.If your going to play him at least give him the chance to show what he can do in his favoured attacking role.

    1. no one knows whats the reason behind playing wing backs…

      maybe he did well in training…

      maybe he needs to learn how to defend…

      maybe wengers wrong

      100001 reasons till we see whats going on in training and behind the scenes

      1. ‘Maybe he needs to learn how to defend!!!???’ Absolute piffle! Maybe Messie, Suarez, Neymar, Salah, Mane, Sane et al and in the past Ryan Giggs and George Best and further still Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney ‘needed to learn how to defend.’ Ludicrous!

    2. You’re right Phil, whenever Wenger brings these youngsters in he plays them in different positions to accommodate them. Maitland-Niles is a prime example

      1. So true , unfortuately but I have to ask myself WHY does Wenger always plays clearly talented attack minded players out of position, in defence. I realise of course that he hates buying proper real defenders who will actually defend , as if their life depends on it. The Maguire or Mawson type, in fact. But he is , or once was supposedly, an intelligent man, despite all the contrary evidence and so I do wonder why he simply and long term refuses to buy a proven and proper defender(or six, which is at least what we need), thus bringing all thr scorn and protests , DELIBERATELY, upon himself. I can only conclude he has gone clinically insane.

        1. Simple question with a simple answer.
          Develop a player.

          If you agree with Wenger or not isn’t the point.

          Cashley Cole was one of the best LB the EPL has had play in it and that was Wenger moving a striker into LB.

          Kolo Toure wasn’t bought as a CB but along with Sol Campbell, that was a CB partnership to go unbeaten.

          If the player has the mental capability and desire then playing in a pos near to what you are going to play can aid in the player knowing how players around him could play. Look how TH14 shown winger qualities in multiple of our goals..

          Wenger has been failing recently but to be ignorant to what he has been trying to do considering he has done it all along, it shows a clear level of ignorance.

          It is not clinically insane to attempt to do something that worked in the past, it is an indication that Wenger is past it. Not insane but past his best.

          As for why Wenger doesn’t buy a top CB, he did want a CB in Jan window but Gazidis tried penny pinching too much on Auba deal and left no time to buy a CB, Gazidis put in a bid that was bound to fail for Evans…

          Ignore that though so you can bash Wenger.

          1. Sorry but you accuse me of ignorance and excuse Wengers gross incompetancde . What planet are you actua.lly living on. Th two examples you mention are from almost ancient history and most of us think thre last ten years far more relevant when judging Wengers ability to managert than the decade befor elast, when he was much yojunger and still in touch with reality. Name me ONE decent convert to defence in this last decade under Wenger. You will not find one. Not a quality one at least. Finally, if it is true , as you state that Gazidis is now entirely responsible for incoming players and not Wenger, then just answer me why we pay Wenger the best part of £9 million a year to just fail to coach us and just make public media excuses for his many failures? I will gladly do those for no fee and save the club money. FACE FACTS, MIDKEMMA, this way past it man is fast regressing our club and only the very few dullards like you do not see it!

      2. How does playing a youngster out of position ‘accommodate them?’ It might accommodate the team but if he wanted to accommodate AMN he would play him in Xhaka’s position, a position both Wenger and AMN agree is his best position. But no, a lot of money was spent on Xhaka so he had to play otherwise AW would look stupid. On that point, after months of gigantic cockups, Xhaka has finally put a couple of decent games together so let’s hope that continues.

  4. Part of the problem seems to be, we are mainly/only producing talents for attacking positions, but we are always in need of players, who can defend and win the ball back.
    So we have plenty of ne type of player, but very few of what has been needed for years.
    Go figure..

    1. Watch the kids, think you will see a few who can win the ball back, they just don’t hit the headlines as often. Less likely to score a wonder goal as they are not strikers so less likely the media picks up on them with a clip to show the next .

      AMN started as an attacking talent and moved into def positions as he got older, his 1st loan I believe was as a winger… But moved back as he has the qualities if developed to be a top def talent.

  5. If we can’t loan a youth out to step up then I would like to see more buy back clauses inserted into their transfers, allow them to move but if they do progress then we can buy them back for our 1st team.

    We are going through a rebuild and I feel we have to go into this rebuild with our eyes open, we either buy quality which limits a kids progression or we trust in that kid. AFC appear to be looking to buy in the summer window thus the kids path to 1st team is made harder and we have to expect some who will be willing to move on for their own career.

    We do have an opportunity though, we do have some 1st team players that could be sold and it wouldn’t make us weaker. Welbroke plays both AM and CF, that is Nelson and Nketiah being pushed back but if no Welbroke then those 2 would get some more mins during a season.

    Another player is Iwobi, loan him out for 12 months and let Nelson get more game time, Iwobi hasn’t done enough to claim a spot and Nelson can easily replace a fringe player like that.

    There is also tactics to consider, while under Wenger then some players can be exposed while Wenger expects the player to adapt. Xhaka is the prime example, not a DM and been exposed when not given support but played better with Rambo and Wilshere either side of him.

    This uncertainty in CM, I think it makes it harder to predict opportunities for Willock and AMN in CM.

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