Will Arsenal struggles block wonderkid’s progression to first-team?

Arsenal’s campaign this term has put immense pressure on our manager as well as the club as a whole, and that could force us to alter our philosophy on promoting youth somewhat.

Fans are crying out for change, with Arsene Wenger taking the majority of the flack from supporters, and according to recent reports, Stan Kroenke has rejected the urge to part ways with the Frenchman, and instead is asking for him to sign a new deal.

Kroenke has supposedly told Wenger that he is to rehaul the current squad as his main objective in signing a new two-year contract, and with Arsenal on course to miss out qualification for the Champions League for the first time in 21 years.

This will likely force our club to push their financial restraints further than they have in recent years, with our board and manager seemingly content with their top-four position, and that could well hamper our youth members.

It is particularly difficult for strikers to break through the ranks into the first-team at the bigger clubs at present, with most sides opting to play only one striker in the starting XI, and Arsenal is no different on that front.

We have had Chuba Akpom and Benik Afobe both highly rated in recent terms, and neither have managed to make an impact on the first-team, and the latest youngsters to thoroughly impress in our youth side is Eddie Nketiah.

The 17 year-old added to his profile with an international hat-trick for England’s Under-18 side against Denmark yesterday in their 4-0 win, having already notched up 19 goals in his 18 outings for our youth sides.

Nketiah could well prove to be the latest striker who has to move away from the Emirates to make his mark, although Chuba Akpom is yet to leave the club on a permanent deal as of yet.

Will our club be forced to splash out on a big-named striker this summer, most likely ending all hope of progressing a striker into the first-team in the near future?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Nketiah

14 Comments

  1. Two year contract…….nooooooooooo!!!! I can’t take this. Will our club buy a top rate striker? Simply nooooooooooo. Not a fn chance when he is at our club.

    1. Alexis is a top striker and it was Wenger who convinced him to join us over Liverpool who had all the cards when it came to transfer… Suarez was going the opposite way.

      Yeah, ARSENAL have missed out on a few CFs that have performed for their new clubs but how much is that Wenger and how much was the board?

      We got Welbeck, are you not happy with him? Wenger only wanted him on a loan, what a fool huh? I mean, if we had only loaned Welbeck then we wouldn’t have had the joy of his company in the treatment room, such a loss!

      1. Might have also been that Sanchez wanted to be based in London mate. Oh I forgot arsene built London and before he got to here London was nothing, the whole of London should be grateful to Wenger.

  2. If they are good enough, they will play in the 1st team, look at how Bellerin stepped up and forced Wenger to not only consider him at 1st but to become a valued member of the squad.

    We are at the stage now where we can afford to find good loan deals for our kids and give them the experience they need to step up IF they are not grabbing their chances like Bellerin and Iwobi did to get into the 1st team.

    Not all loan deals will work out either, we ideally need someone in the club to have their best interests at heart and find them the right place to go on loan to, no more losing talent because we sent a player to Tony Pulis…

    Mavididi looked to have grabbed his loan opportunity with both hands till he got injured 🙁 Such a bright start for a loan deal.

    As an Arsenal fan I would love to see us get to the point where we have 2 WC players (1 ‘old’ and 1 in prime) for every spot, 22 players who need to be registered and this allows an allowance of 3 players for the squad, utility players/big personality… Use kids to make a 3rd man for every spot, get them ready to step into the shoes of an older WC player.

    Not every kid will step up and if regular work was done on maintaining the squad then we can get away with 1 or 2 top signings per year to cover for this…

    I would like to brag about developing top talent but alongside winning stuff so I can claim Arsenal truly won the EPL and not just bought it XD

  3. This is not my beloved Arsenal…….. but i know…. Tide and time will wash away these tarnishes
    .
    ARSENAL WILL BE REDEEMED FROM THE SHACKLE OF RETROGRESSION ONE DAY!
    .
    ARSENAL WILL BE BACK!

  4. I reckon at least one of the young strikers will come good for us, so long as Arsene doesn’t turn the lot of them into wingers. There is a knack about finding space, making the right runs, and finishing it in the net. As much time as possible needs to be spent on this, esp at an early stage. Arsene can be too much about outfield play, with a players responsibility being linked to another players game. Mavididi – Nketiah – Malen – Willock
    Not sure which one but I reckon one should make it. I like the speed of Mavididi but already on loan they are using him out wide. They should loan them/him to clubs that need a no9.

    1. Mavididi picked up a bad injury dude 🙁
      We seem filled with prospects. Nelson’s game seems to have it all. And Bielik has thoroughly impressed me every time I’ve seen him. Composed, intelligent, powerful and technical.

  5. I think the opposite is true, Wenger will rely on youth if we miss out on the Arsene Wenger 4th place trophy. The board nor their puppet will not spend money trying to get us back in the champions league places. I expect ozil,Sanchez and any other player of any worth to be sold and a mixture of youth and the rubbish that are left to make up next years squad. Time to go arsene

    1. But its all good because Wenger will tell us that we’re building for the future and that this seasons squad is definitely without question the best he’s ever had and we should all be grateful. Oh and don’t forget that we cant compete with other top teams with money even though he’s one of the highest paid managers and we charge the most for tickets/season tickets. Good old Arsene, always doing his best for the club. Seen he said France will dominate football for years, if he’s said it I’m putting money on that they don’t.

  6. hahaha guys believe me i just read till stan and i just knew this article.was written by Pat j. Just went till the end to confirm it

  7. I think those guys backing wenger to stay are counting there Chicks to early. Hve you seen our aprils fixture hehe its do or die for wenger. Let us survive that then this contract can be brought to the frame i dont see how majority of the fans will take the conract extension as a blessing. I for one will jump over and support volleyball team hehe they never disappoint ;).

  8. He’s 17… Just barely promoted to the U23’s!!
    Our exceptional talent from the academy breaks through eventually. People whinge about certain players initially (lansbury, adobe) but I can only think of two players I’d have really liked us to have held on to.. (gnabry, ozyakup) and I believe we would have with gnabry if not for his terrible injury and horrible loan choice.
    I’m genuinely very excited at Nketiah, his finishes are top-drawer and goal numbers that good at even that level show he has a knack for scoring. If he continues to develop and works hard he’ll get his chance!

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