The facts are simple, even if we win the Europa League we will still have less money than our top-six rivals and apart from possibly Manchester United, we have the biggest rebuilding job to do.
I have read different comments from a multitude of pundits all saying the same thing, we need to buy x amount of players, we must sell x amount of players and so on.
But we need a massive dose of reality here.
We cannot just sell a load of players without weakening our squad, Arsenal will be fighting for glory on four fronts next season and that requires a big squad.
Now, let’s assume we sell seven players and we replace them with seven players and maintain our squad size, do you honestly think that all seven new signings will be a success? Do you think that all seven will integrate immediately?
Of course they will not and that will hamper progress.
But bringing in academy players, youngsters that have trained and worked with the first team means that integration and transition will be so much smoother.
We have the quality, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, Krystian Bielik, Bukayo Saka, Tyreece John-Jules and Xavier Amaechi just to name a few. Are you telling me that we cannot bring at least three of them into the first team as regulars?
If we cannot then there is definitely something wrong with our youth set up.
I am not saying for one minute that we do not buy quality players, what I am saying is that we do not need to buy five/seven new players, two/three is enough as long as they are top quality complimented by our bloody good youth players.
Remember, we used just three academy players last season in the Premier League, whereas Tottenham used eight, and they did not buy anyone for two transfer windows and are in the Champions League final. There is a reason for that, they trusted in their youth.
We must do the same.
I’ve been calling for the inclusion of the Academy / U23 players for some time. Obviously they need blooding carefully but surely we should start trusting some of them otherwise what is the point in investing in the Academy ? Hopefully with Nelson and ESR coming back from Germany and the other players mentioned, tearing it up in the U23s, we’ll hopefully see some of them tried next season.
? can’t wait to see more, actually a lot more, of Saka, ESR & Nelson…..
It’s not easy to graduate from the academy and break into the senior squad just like that. Only an exceptional talent like Iwobi was able to become a mainstay in the Arsenal team without needing to make a loan move away from the club.
The current crop is exciting but really I don’t see anyone of them being able to fix the current deficiencies in the team. We have talented wingers in Eddie, Saka and Nelson but they’re not of the same quality as Sancho. If we want to seriously compete with the other big teams then we have to start aiming higher than the current u23 squad for now.
TH14-“Only an exceptional talent like Iwobi was able to be a mainstay in the Arsenal team”.
Your love for Iwobi knows no bound.You are obsessed with him to the point of delusion.He can’t even get in the team.He can’t even get in the Nigerian team.It seems he is thought of just as less by his own countrymen than he is over here.And we are only a Top Side in decline.He can’t even impress in a third rate nations team at international level when he plays the like of …..who exactly?
So let’s see if it Iwobi or Arsenal you really follow.
There is a lot of speculation that we are interested in Wilfred Zaha.A player who would no doubt go straight into the side as a wide left attacker.He is a self-confessed Arsenal Fan who is a far better player than Iwobi will ever be.
So do you want Zaha in Who will no doubt mean your man goes to Brentford for a game ( at best) or you watch Iwobi stay on the bench getting overtaken by Nelson Saka etc over the next season or two and ending up at Orient (at best).
Just curious.And please don’t come back with the ACM No10 role again.We are all still laughing at your better than Bergkamp tale that will embarrass every single 5ime you comment on here.
Come on Phil, he appeared 35 times in 38 games for Arsenal last season, starting 22 of those games and playing nearly 2,000 minutes of football while at it in the Epl alone. Now tell me, are those numbers associated with a fringe player?
Signing Zaha does Iwobi no harm, finally the burden of filling up that LWF position will be taken off him and he can focus on developing his game in his “natural” position which is the number 10 role. I’ll be the happiest person when we do sign proper wingers (I hope 2 wingers). Zaha and Chukwueze (another Nigerian ?) tops my wishlist.
There you go again with the No10 role.Even you can’t surely believe that a player ridiculed as much by his own countrymen for his abysmal performances for his third rate national team (that he isn’t even a recognised starter for) as much as the vast majority of the Arsenal fan base.
Now answer the question I asked.Wilfred Zaha or Iwobi?which one would you prefer in an Arsenal Shirt
I used to think brentford would be a loan option … Not sure he’s that good any longer … For sure his playing time is a reflection of a club that finished the season closer to Bournemouth than man city or pool … Still find it difficult to square management comments on how a new stadium would put us in a position to compete with the best in Europe with a transfer budget that puts us in competition with likes of Everton wolves and west ham … victims of one of football’s bigger corporate scammers am sorry to say
Agree on your second paragraph Rkw ,not a truer word written ,the lies we were Feed still wind me up 12 years later ..
Actually I also agree on you’re 1st paragraph ,great post .
Do you seriously want to know my answer to that question Phil?
Why would I ask if I didn’t want to know-Zaha has had a very good season with Palace.Iwobi is the same as he ever has been -utter crap.So answer the question.Out of the two players who would you want to see in an Arsenal shirt
Admin, given the financial constraints Arsenal has in comparison to other clubs in the EPL, it is hard to disagree. Arsenal’s U23’s and U18’s have both won their respective competitions, yet the talent there seems to be underrated by many.
Per Mertesacher as Academy Director and Freddie Ljungberg and the other coaches are doing a great job. However Dennis Bergkamp has left Ajax Amsterdam after an apparent philosophical disagreement with Marc Overmaars. He is supposedly looking for a position back in the EPL and Arsenal should jump at the chance to reemploy him after his success at Ajax. Imagine how much he could improve a player like Iwobi and other young strikers and midfielders, as far as decision making, control and shooting in front of goal.
I’d drive to Holland to bring Bergkamp to Arsenal and buy him dinner in his favourite Italian restaurant in Potters Bar.
Yes agree Zech Medley more chances please.
And Krystian Bielik too..he had a great time at Charlton…made 32 appearances and his contract expires in 2020
Nelson and ESR need at least one more year in Germany and need to start games…I want Nelson to become the next Serge Gnabry not the next Iwobi
It is time to integrate some of our academy players into the first team. We stand the risk of losing them if we don’t. They see what Sancho, Calum Odoi, Foden and other youngsters are doing after they have been given the opportunity by their clubs and may grow impatient and want to leave. It isn’t enough to tie them down with long contracts. Give them the chance to show what they too can do.
Lance your post is spot on and your last 2 sentences make excellent sense. Well done!
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Just as we cant be sure that 7 new players will integrate well, same applies with trusting in youth, constitency has always been the issues with youth, we are saw how Guedi was given run of games at the start of the season, i saw Nelson in pre-season and in his loan, am not convinced yet, am sure all others that has featured for us would have had more playing time had it been they performed better than the seniors.
Truth is, our youth system isnt the best in the countries, chelsea, city, watford and a few other clubs are ahead of us, and most of them are not relying on the youth, am not against giving youth chance but its a lot of gamble, even during Wenger ‘youth years’ we were buying cheap guys not integrating a whole frombour academy, we bought Ramsey, he wasnt from us, only wilshere and a few unreliable ones came from our academy. We need to buy established, proven players and let d young guys learn from them, probably, one or 2 of the young guys will start shining.
I hope we get a left footed winger at all cost, i dont really like Zaha, to me he isnt better than Nanni of Utd, Douglas Costa! Winks!
We dont need to replace Aron, we need full backs, and a cb, those positions will automatically relieve pressure on defense and give them breather, so less mistakes and goals conceed, but if wing and full backs are pressure, defense is gone because cb would be drawn out of position and all that
Everyone of us know our season also suffered from not trusting our youngsters, all the times we had injured important defenders, we could’ve given Medley, and a few others the chance to step up, there’s no way they would’ve performed worse than our terrible defense, even up front, who gives a fvck if Saka is under 19? How old was Mbappe when he took the world by storm?
I really find it annoying Also that we don’t give our youngsters the chance to play and we go for finished and error prone players.
I think sending Eddie Nketiah on loan next season will be an error, Eddie is also tricky with the ball, all we need is give him some playing time against lower table teams, let his confidence grow, he can be our third striker, he can be our Rashford only if we trust him more.
I have no problem with Emery bringing in new players, I just hate the fact that he’s always going after ageing players, look at Pep when he came, he got rid of almost all the players city had, kept Aguero and a few others, brought in younger players, already turned them into a world class team, for the next five years this City squad can still play together and dominate the world.
I know we don’t have the fees, but let’s trust our academy more
Eddie, what annoys me is that people rave about young players at other clubs, even in lower divisions, yet downgrade Arsenal youth, despite the performance of Arsenal’s U23’s and U18’s winning their respective competitions.
I believe it is a bit early to catagorize Emery as someone who “is always going for aging players” after one transfer window (in which he may have had the players chosen by others) and January when loan deals only were sanctioned by the board.
The old adage applies “if a player is good enough, he is old enough.”
The development and integration of our talented youth players is the way forward for our Club regardless of whether or not we are restricted financially.I say this because the “transfer market” has gone completely mad with £50m being used as a starting point for players who have little in the way of a proven track record . With our self sustaining principles, which in themselves are commendable, we cannot compete in terms of price and on going wages.This spiralling in costs will not last.The bubble will burst in the not too distant future as there is only so much the likes of TV companies can pay to the Football Associations before passing these costs on to their customers, that is you and I.It seems investing in football clubs is fashionable for the seriously wealthy at the moment but few, if any will make a profit for their investment and before too long the novelty will wear off and major casualties will arise.I for one to not wish Arsenal to become such a casualty.
Ah the wisdom and foresight of age and experience. How refreshing to read! Like nectar on here compared to the usual unthinking rubbish so constantly churned out by know nothing kids!
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It looks like Emery is not the coach to do it,a case for example of guendouzi ,he bought to be ahead of say Smith Rowe ,willock Nelson and nketiah.is he of superior quality? compared to those?no no the coach has issuesmaybe Ljunberg can do it.
Raymond, did Emery have a say in the transfer of Guendouzi, or was he inherited from Mislantat?
Other clubs should use Ajax as an example,most of those kids straight from the academy,arsenal right now has a great generation of talent,but the coach prefers average to arsenal through and through,and another thing guedouzi in the middle and Amn in the middle,is looking for a box to box midfielder yet Niles is already made but since is from the academy he doesn’t trust him their and he uses guedouzi instead were in my view he has failed,Niles has pace ,physicality and technique just remember that man it’s game.
It frustrated me so many times this season that we have to rely on players that it isn’t there position to deputilize for injured/suspended players when we have people who can do the job in our rank e.g. playing xhaka at cb Mustafi at rb and so on people who couldn’t play there natural positions well to do an even harder job that pissed me off so much…
Just look at our last match…the boys didn’t do worst than what we have seen from so called senior players
I forgave Emery because it’s his 1st season his to getting familiar with faces here
Do it again this coming season we won’t take it lightly we are not coaches but we
Are no fools either we can see also
The writer has rightly put all he said. The truth of the matter is, no player develops unless they are given the chance to prove themselves!
What’s the point in playing Mustafi who just can’t let go of his clumsiness when there’s a rotting talent in Mavropanos?
It’s been very annoying to see the likes of Nketiah, Willock, Saka etc playing next to nothing in the league yet we keep singing how promising they are!
It’s time Unai Emery gave them a chance coz for me, if u are good enough, u are old enough!
I have just read reports Emery wants to trade Cambers, Jenkinson and Reiss Nelson plus cash for Zaha.
I do not doubt Zara’s quality, but using One of Arsenal’s most talented youngsters as part of a bargaining chip is stupid as far as I am concerned.
Saha, is overpriced and there are better options available. I hope this rumour is false. No way should Arsenal swap these players, plus money for him
I have faith in Saka if given the chance.
Any one who gives our immediate future sober analysis, and bearing in mind who owns us and how damaging he is to our hopes, will of course know that any success we may in future have lies in our own talented younger players, along with a shrewd spending of Kroenkes peanuts forced from his Fort Knox pockets and reluctantly handed to our present regime. Last summer the Kroenke peanuts were , on the whole spent wisely and a wiser stil spending is needed this time. But we have several potential diamonds in oiur virtually as yet unused younger players and we MUST, simply MUST, be wise enough to give them their head next season. NELSONS INCLUSION FORM DAY ONE SHOULD BE A SHOW IN. E M-S should certainly be tried and given a proper trial run. Sako is a real talent and must be tried properly too. With Holding hopefully fit and MAVROS CLEARLY POSSESSING TALENTS, THOUGH RAW AS YET, things could look better much sooner than most of us think. Youth equals vigour, workrate and lack of fear. We have more than enough older players already and I would be looking only at bringing in younger players, whether from inside or outside the club.
Dan Smiths silly suggestion of “DADS ARMY” free agents should be shunned like the plague!
In all the youth players, only Nketiah and Nelson deserve a chance; the others are just poor.
And you actually watch them when exactly? Have you seen the performances from the youth sides this season?Have you been to any games?Im just curious to know why you say we have a poor youth system and yet we are being widely credited to have the most talented youth system and coaches in place for a long long time.
But you know better how?
Exactly right, Phil. Both Arsenal’s U23’s and U18’s won their respective competitions against top clubs youth teams, including Spurs and Chelsea. Highlights of the games can be viewed on u tube.
Saka is great. Nketiah has got goals to his game. Nelson must not be sent on loan. Medley can be the next koulibaly. Just trust them. O Emery, please
We have got nothing to lose for giving these young players a go. The senior players have been a joke for 3 seasons now.
I say if we don’t have money to spend in the summer then promote some of our promising youngsters. During our Pre-season give them enough time on the pitch and let’s see who should make it into the first team.
I am just ready to see the back of most of the senior players that have been here for more than 4 seasons. They are deadwood that is draining our wages with nothing positive to give back in return.
I am so done with this group.
Goonster I think you’re on the right lines but personally I wouldn’t have time limits. If a player is not much good then I don’t care how long he’s been here.
My own group of players to ship out and replace consists of Lichsteiner, Jenkinson, Kolasinac, Elneny, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan and the loanee Suarez. I’m also glad Welbeck’s going.
Not too sure about Sokratis and am hoping against hope that Mustafi and Iwobi can be trained up as we can’t get rid of the entire squad. I also hope Monreal has a good rest and comes back next season fit and raring to go as he’s looked a bit knackered on occasions.
Emery did not like arsenal young player.
And you know this how?
We are evidently a club in a transition phase. with city and Liverpool looking ridiculously overpowered, 3rd place is the best we can get, there is no better time to throw our young talents in the deep end.
If they pass the premier league test then we have a group of potential top talents for atleast a decade. If they fail then at least we gave them a chance and have no regrets e.g gnabry. Young talents came to arsenal because they knew they would get a chance.
You are all missing the fat lessons being dished out by this brilliant and optimistic writer. Arsenal is a great club known for developing rather than buying expensive and overrated players. The Alexis Sanchez story at Piano Utd is my point of reference. The Manure spent more than Liverpool, Arsenal and Totenham in the last 3 years but still finished 6th. Fulham spent over 100 million last season but got relegated. Yes we have a decent team that should easily have beaten Chelsea, Man Utd and played well against both Man Shitty and Liverfools in the first round of the season.
Yes we must learn to love and support our players especially the following;
1. Mustafi: at 25 he is still young and will improve. Virgil Van Dijik is 29 years old and only broke through this season.
2. Iwobi …at only 22 what a talent, still needs to improve on the final ball. Even Zaha is not as comfortable on the ball as this young man.
3. Rob Holding….can wait for him to come back
4. AMN…..destined for greatness
5. Nketia…already an established goal poacher
If you add the cover of Bellerin, Captain Kos (one more season), Torreira, reliable Gondozzi and the prolific pair of AB/Lacazzette….this squad is not bad at all.
You will believe the hype once these youngsters win us the EUROPA!!!! Watch this space.