Arsenal has a long history of signing and developing youngsters into great players.
A lot has been made about Arsenal letting Serge Gnabry leave who has since gone onto great things at Bayern Munich but it does seem there is very little balance being offered up.
There has been a long list of Arsenal youngsters, both signed and brought through the academy, that has done very well with the club, right now there is Gabriel Martinelli and Matteo Guendouzi, both signed for little money that are worth a hell of a lot more and of course Bukayo Saka who could be a superstar.
Here are just a few more to get your teeth stuck into.
Cesc Fabregas
Signed as a teenager making his debut at just 16 and has had an illustrious career winning everything including a world cup.
Nicolas Anelka
Joined as a 17-year-old and won the Premier League before leaving after a couple of seasons and went on to win a ton of silverware.
Kolo Toure
Signed at 20 for just £150,000 and became an invincible and went on to win the Premier League title with Man City.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Signed as a teenager and now a Champions League winner
Gael Clichy
Another teenager signed and he has won three Premier League titles, one with Arsenal and two with Man City.
Ashely Cole
Arguably one of the best full-backs ever in the Premier League with more trophies than Tottenham in his cabinet.
I could go on and on, for example, Tony Adams, Liam Brady, Charlie George, all players that were either signed as teenagers or came through the academy, won a hatful of medals and became stars of the game.
So, Arsenal has let some youngsters go that went on to better things but so has every top club on the planet, no club has a monopoly on getting it right and Arsenal can be proud of the number of youngsters that they have developed in comparison to other top clubs.
It is not a one-way street.
Martin, you have it right when you say “so have every top club on the planet”! I often look into other clubs fan sites and those who do not do so can easily think we Gooners behave differently from other fans. I can tell you with certainty-though of course YOU AND PAT ALREADY KNOW – that Gooners have no monopoly of gloom, hype, excitement, hasty unthinking comments, wise thoughts or to put it more succinctly ,HUMANS, just like us. Comforting, in a perverse way. They even have my equivalents, God help them!
I think right now we have the best crop of young players for some considerable time past.
Jon, as two oldies, we could go back and name many, many more youngsters that The Arsenal have made into excellent players:
Liam Brady – Jon Sammels – Geordie Armstrong – David Price – David Hillier – Ray Parlour – David Rocastle – John Radford…the list goes on and on and on and also depends, of course, on what age youngsters are deemed to have become older players.
Likewise, we have made some real bloomers as well and, as Martin seems to indicates, this must be the way with every single club in the world- Peter Marinello was always my biggest regret from Arsenal as a “big club” point of view, more so than any other players that slipped through our fingers.
The latest crop of younger players are very exciting and, under the guidance of MA, they have every chance of becoming as good as Fabregas, Brady or Rocastle…they have a marvellous mentor and coach, along with their god given personal abilities.
OT Jon – not sure if you saw my reply to you while discussing the discussion regarding Man. City ? Despite our never ending Arsenal disagreements, our personal views on values (whether right or wrong of course!!!) seem to be in line with each other….funny old world wouldn’t you say?
Funny old world indeed Ken! Greavsie used to add the word “Saint”, to that phrase. What a great man he was and I am so hopeful that the campaign led by that “worthy liberal” ahem,cough, splutter, newspaper the Daily Mail to get him a long overdue “gong” is successful. I have so many times Ken made the resolution to give up all social media and esp this site, as it brings out the worst in people and in me for SURE, which I don’t like one bit but being the weak minded hypocrite I am, I will put those finer thoughts that DO linger somewhere in the back of my psyche, back in the box marked “one day maybe” and carry on being an old git and proud of the fully fledged prefix to that “distinguished title”. I always say if you are going to be fledged , you might as well be fully fledged. I do my fledging properly!!
You are of course so right in that list, though I might argue(don’t I always!!) with Hillier, whom I never much liked as a player but he did come through, so he should be on the list.
Totally agree about todays young exciting talents and, with Kroenke, we have to go even further down that youth road, as we can never compete with owners who CARE for THEIR clubs.
On the Man City discussion you will need to jog my memory, as once written, I tend to forget and move on. It is how I am, unless a nice juicy full scale world war three type argument is in the offering ,in which case the fully fledged old git comes roaring into the attack, hoping to slay some poor unfortunate. No wonder some people hate me; I hate myself quite often but I guess I am stuck with old gittism for life. Sigh!
My sincere best wishes to you though KEN and despite our many up and downers, I have always retained the utmost respect and admiration for you as a human being. Some things are so much more important than even Arsenal, as we both know Ken!
Right! Stop that Love In you two. Lol
Yes we i agree with admin, ken and jon, we have the best CROP of young players that we have ever had. Upward and onwards.
Ah, but Reggie…different era, different weather, different pitches and different prices of hot dogs – Jon and me I mean!!!
As a youngster, you don’t have to worry about Jon and I having a love in, I remember what it was about, but I haven’t a clue how to do it!!!
Here’s a question for one and all – the best youngster ever to wear an Arsenal shirt and fulfill the promise he showed?
For me it has to be Liam Brady/Cesc Fabregas – sorry can’t divide them.
REGGIE,At least Ken remembers how, it seems. I have long forgotten how, which is a crying shame as I am only 35(he lied!).
Ken was right though, as years ago , decades in fact, we had loads of regular young players make the grade. With Kroenke withholding vitally needed funds, we will have to go more and more down the road of youth, in future.
And hot dog soutside the ground were once nine old pennies with a proper sausage and crusty roll too, if you go back far enough. Or so my Grandad once told me(another lie!).
Ken, Further to my above post I have now located, read and digested the fascinating debate between basically MARTIN AND EVERYONE ELSE on the Man City corruption thread.
What I most take from that debate is how true is my oft written contention that almost ALL of us are at times, hypocrites. Certainly I am and have known this to be so for many decades. Hypocrisy -or inconsistency if you like – is a natural and normal part of our shared human condition. I am constantly struck by the clear truth of that statement and actually think that we should all refrain from calling each other “a hypocrite,” as we (virtually) ALL are too”. Being imperfect makes us far more interesting and just plain human. I would not wish it otherwise . I would add that the sheer degree and either deliberate OR unconscious state of hypocrisy is what REALLY matters. Most hypocricies are harmless and we all make far too much fuss about them. Just accept it and move on. I am of course mostly talking to myself here. I need a good talking to but who better to understand my own nonsense, than me!
Nice list, although I would definitely disagree about the Ox’s development at Arsenal.
He was signed as an exciting prospect, and if anything, plateaued whilst at Arsenal. It’s only since working under Klopp that he’s been delivering on that early potential.
I have not seen any difference between ox when he was at Arsenal and now .still a fringe player at Liverpool, not a prolific scorer yet I will still pick Martenelli ahead of him in a my squad .
Completely agree regradless of the media telling how much he improved from his time with Arsenal. Only difference is he is playing more centrally, a position he wasn’t able to hold down whils’t at Arsenal.
The Ox is delivering now (more than at Arsenal)?
Nah, I don’t think so. The OX has raw basic skills, but falls flat on the mental attitude needed to move onto the next level. He will remain a sub in liverpool, until some up and coming youngster nudges him off even that lowly perch.
Ox is incredibly now 26 , I beleive and his career is half over, though has hardly started too. I do not see him now ever completely fulfilling his undoubted one time potential, though he will surely do beter from now on. But when you have been an outstanding prospect at, say, 17 and by 26 still have not made that universally agreed big break through, you really have lost a huge chunk of your career.
Poor Jack Wilshere, now 27, is the most obvious example I can think of, of a once widely accepted world star to be , whose career has just gone down the drain. What a terrible waste, but we were definitely right to move him on when we did. Even sooner would have been better.
Goons Der Ber,
It reminds me of Theo Walcott and his career – I always expected something more than was delivered.
Still both seem great human beings and have made successful careers in professional football, so I’m bloody jealous really!!!
Not only have we developed a lot of top young talents but you only have to look at the numbers of french players who ended up playing for the french national team,back then it was a given if you played for arsenal/wenger you’d end up an international bar few exceptions ,we used to have at least 11 players on international duties every time ,worrying who would come back injured😉