Last season, Arsenal had the team with the youngest average age in the Premier League last season, and with Edu and Arteta’s new philosophy of only buying talented youngsters, the average age will only be getting younger as the new signings are integrated into the team..
24 – The average age of Arsenal's line-up against Southampton is 24 years and 349 days old, the youngest starting XI for the Gunners at the Emirates in a Premier League game since September 2012, also against the Saints (24y 266d). Fresh. pic.twitter.com/2HMMzpEaRZ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 16, 2020
With every single one of our new signings being 23 or under, it is quite possible that we could see these XI players lining up for Arteta in a Premier League game this season, which would include all of our new signings except for Nuno Tavares, but considering that Kieran Tierney has a tendency towards being injured on a regular basis, Tavares could also be included.
Considering Arteta’s buying philosophy, it was maybe surprising that Arsenal extended Aubameyang’s contract last summer instead of cashing in and signing a new young striker like Tammy Abraham, which would have reduced the average age even more.
But here is a Starting XI that is very feasiible and if started would easily beat last years figures, as the average age of this XI is just 23.36. This would probably be an EPL record!
Ramsdale 23
Tomiyasu 23
Ben White 23
Gabriel 23
Tierney 24
Lokonga 21
Partey 28
Saka 20 (Today!)
Smith-Rowe 21
Odegaard 22
Aubameyang 32
So what do you think of that line-up playing regularly together and developing into a title winning team?
Who says you can’t win anything with kids!
Sakas 20 today Pat
Team looks good on paper but would have Leno all day long and we know when available Arteta always puts Xhaka name first on the team sheet so the age would rise a lot more .
Maybe the team in a couple of years and one that looks very good aslong as they all stay here
It’s good for Arsenal’s financial stability, because of the young players’ resale values. They have shown their capabilities in almost all positions, except the CF position
Gai,
Our Center forward position isn’t as bad as it seems. The coach just need to perfect a system that could bring the best out of the forward players .
Well, there’s a huge assumption none of last years ‘issues’ will a arise again. Will partey be available most of the season or will he get an Arsenal injury again?
If so we have Xhaka, who will slow everything down and probably get sent off at some point..this costs points.
Ben White as talented as he is he may struggle in a less than solid arsenal backline under fire from hungry teams baying for blood. Lots of aerial balls will be thrown into the box to make life uncomfortable for our defence consisting of a PL and British football untested Bologna import who will as the tallest defender be largely responsible for fending this ploy off.
Lokonga looks decent but will he get time..Odegard for Norway looks vibrant and effective however will he be stifled by ArtetaBall.
Auba looks like a ghost of himself so I don’t see him being anymore prolific than his last outing.
ESR and Saka could be affected by the fact that so much responsibility is on them to deliver the creative goods consistently under such mounting pressure at their respective ages.
I’d like Martinelli in there personally as he is one for now and not just a future.
In general I’m saying it’s easy on paper but let’s see if the fundamental problems like team selection, decision making, strategy and system of play, micromanagement and in-house disruption along with the curse of arsenal injury suddenly just ‘goes away’;)
It’s very possible that this will develop into a very good team over time, but we still have to contend with the here and now. Currently our midfield is ineffective, our defence and GK questionable and it’s hard to see how we score enough goals unless Auba has a dramatic shift in form (we just have to pray at this point).
If we aren’t very careful and don’t do enough over the next couple of years, we’ll end up losing some of these talented young players as they get opportunities to move to clubs that are competitive today – they don’t always have to wait for success and of they’re hungry for it, they might well choose not to.
Indeed like many have before. Those modern footballers who have higher aspirations and with a limited playing career want to be part of a winning team and who could blame them.
Time will tell.
Déjà vu under Wenger….If You don’t delivrer sooner rather than later you’ll end up loosing your best players…Fabregas anyone?
We are always building for the future. Anything to keep our hopes high, why our club keeps sinking. “Why playing in the championship is good for Arsenal’s future.” It could make for a good read.
As to your last line question Ad PAT, it WAS and famously so, Alan Hansen on MotD, years ago when speaking about the Man Utd class of ’92.
What he forgot to THINK, (before speaking!!) was that when you get a talented team of very young players all together they grow in team spirit and bonding far easier than a team of older players.
His prediction was laughably false, as history shows and many of us, I suggest – well me anyway – hold out great hope for our team of “infants,” aka burgeoning young stars, who are being assembled by our so called “ahem, cough , cough, “rookie manager”!
They need a decent manager at least if their talent is to bring results. MA has shown on countless occasions that he is a below-par manager.
Many people mentioned the Tuchel effect at Chelsea and how players that underperformed under Lampard shone again under the German.
Arsenal is in the same situation that Chelsea was. Their inexperienced manager is making a bad situation worse. I just don’t see MA bouncing back.
For the past 10 yrs, Arsenal have been rebuilding. Instead of ur progressing we have been retrogressing. Please when are we going to get it right?.I’ll always be an Arsenal fan but the truth be told, l doubt if Arteta can take Arsenal to the glory land. I’ve not seen any identity at all. I’ll go for an experienced ✋. Let’s see whether he can prove me wrong!
This ^
YES, one day over the rainbow and on the 12th of never we will be a bonafide BIG football team competing for the games top honours..
On that day we will finally have arrived and would have left behind that seemingly permanent transformative ‘process’.
#GoodOleHighburyDays #theNeverEndingStory
Hopefully, Arteta will be in a position to field the eleven listed in the not too distant future.With the likes of Martinelli,Lacazette and Pepe in the wings, we are certainly not lacking in terms of attack minded players,at least on paper.
One thing again I will say is the admin is deluded..if you think assembling a young team with potentials is tantamount to success without experienced proven players then you are just deluded ….. Especially under an assistant coach parading himself as a coach ….we will all be here when this coach and the edus of this world gets fired…. Last season the excuse was give him time, this season now it’s we are rebuilding…. Their saving grace is that they have an owner who knows nothing about football…. immediately finances starts nosediving due to bad result I’m sure the owners will see to that one and have them fired…. It’s just a matter of time …. We are almost getting there….we would see what excuse you guys will come up with for them when they are sacked…. It just amazes me how this failure of a coach has so much backing with millions spent from our fanbase when even our greatest manager never got half of it….
Unadulterated rubbish.
Oh DEAR . How marvellous you would find it, IF you had even ONE brain cell!
I don’t buy into the age, thing do you think Saka,and Smith-row will still be there in four years, we just grow them and sell them at a “prifit” to man city for them to continue winning, whilst we make our owners reacher