Going down the youth route

[Greg N'Ash]

From varying statements coming from the club it seems we'll be putting a much bigger reliance on home grown youth players

Now personally i don't think there's much better than a youth player coming through and making the grade but is it practical?

We've got a much better record on youth players coming through than a lot of clubs but even then its hardly a production line. The last 10 years i can think of only Gabby, Cahill and maybe Allbrighton who you could possibly see in a successful side. Of the rest we've had players who've made the grade but faded (Vassell, Moore), those we've flogged on who weren't good enough for us (Ridgewell, whittingham, gardner) but the vast majority haven't made it.

Now as usual, people are tellling me there's the "next Cowans/Yorke/add your own name" coming through but I've heard this so many times that i view it now with a slightly cynical gaze.

If we are trying to model ourselves on some sort of Ajax ideal or similar, are the club being a bit naive expecting this to work, other than ending up like West ham a few years ago, where they bring the talent through at the cost of very inconsistent performances and then the finished product buggers off to chelsea, ManU while they get relegated?

I'm quite happy to put a bigger emphasis on the youth side and would be more than happy to see a youth player on the bench rather than the likes of Beye, but the facts are, there's a good chance they won't be good enough and in the meantime we have to win games. My question is, if Randy has turned off the money tap would you be happy to go this way and is it at all viable without big spending to compliment it?

[Brend'Watkins]

What about Clarke and Bannan?  The latter when he came on away at Fulham last year practically ran the show.  I feel both will offer even more next season and I wouldn't be against Lichaj getting the right back slot either.  He didn't look out of place in the games he played so why not?

[Greg N'Ash]

the likes of clarke and bannon has just broken through. We have no idea if they'll make it. They're promising i grant you but at this stage no more than that. People were saying exactly the same about the likes of Moore and Vassell a few years back. One thing for certain is both of them will have a period of bad form as all youth players do, and whether they get over it and improve or go backwards, the team will suffer.

[Mazrim]

I'd be worried if we didn't have such a formidable academy set up but the truth is we do and the results in terms of what they produce should improve as time goes by.

I've said for a while now, the best, most sensible and most sustainable way we have of competing for top honours is by producing our own players and wise use of the funds Randy will almost certainly provide to supplement this.

However, fans have to be patient and if this philosophy is ever going to succeed, need to realise that its not an exact science and that the youngsters need to "have their head"  and be allowed to make mistakes without the massive pressure on them that could shatter their egg shell minds (cheers Jim).

Arsenal have doing this for a while but in a flawed way at times. We can improve on it.

[UsualSuspect]

How many players in the current Arsenal team are home grown??

I can Only think of Wilshere

[Greg N'Ash]

I'd be worried if we didn't have such a formidable academy set up but the truth is we do and the results in terms of what they produce should improve as time goes by.

I've said for a while now, the best, most sensible and most sustainable way we have of competing for top honours is by producing our own players and wise use of the funds Randy will almost certainly provide to supplement this.

However, fans have to be patient and if this philosophy is ever going to succeed, need to realise that its not an exact science and that the youngsters need to "have their head"  and be allowed to make mistakes without the massive pressure on them that could shatter their egg shell minds (cheers Jim).

Arsenal have doing this for a while but in a flawed way at times. We can improve on it.

do you think people would have the patience to put up with a few years of bottom half finishes while we blood them? I probably would and i know you would but its not too clver sticking youngsters into a relegation fight

[SO Villa]

How many players in the current Arsenal team are home grown??

I can Only think of Wilshere

I think there's a dfference between home-grown and players who have come through the youth system. If you take the latter, there's a fair few; Szczesny, Clichy, Song, Diaby all played for the Youth team even if they were shipped in at 16/17 from elsewhere.

[Ger Regan]

How many players in the current Arsenal team are home grown??

I can Only think of Wilshere

Depends on what you count as home grown, personally anyone signed around the age of 16 / 17 should be considered that, and they've plenty of them.

[Villan For Life]

I'd be worried if we didn't have such a formidable academy set up but the truth is we do and the results in terms of what they produce should improve as time goes by.

I've said for a while now, the best, most sensible and most sustainable way we have of competing for top honours is by producing our own players and wise use of the funds Randy will almost certainly provide to supplement this.

However, fans have to be patient and if this philosophy is ever going to succeed, need to realise that its not an exact science and that the youngsters need to "have their head"  and be allowed to make mistakes without the massive pressure on them that could shatter their egg shell minds (cheers Jim).

Arsenal have doing this for a while but in a flawed way at times. We can improve on it.

do you think people would have the patience to put up with a few years of bottom half finishes while we blood them? I probably would and i know you would but its not too clver sticking youngsters into a relegation fight

What if we're not in a relegation dogfight? The right mixture of youth and experience should set us on a decent path.

I would rather see an academy graduate being given a chance than a mercenary money-grabbing journeyman.

[not3bad]

How many players in the current Arsenal team are home grown??

I can Only think of Wilshere

I think there's a dfference between home-grown and players who have come through the youth system. If you take the latter, there's a fair few; Szczesny, Clichy, Song, Diaby all played for the Youth team even if they were shipped in at 16/17 from elsewhere.

Don't forget Fabregas.

[Greg N'Ash]

How many players in the current Arsenal team are home grown??

I can Only think of Wilshere

well they're a case in point. they nick a lot of the best young players in the world but even with their set-up they've never really looked like winning anything. And it makes financial sense to go down this way so how come the likes of Manu/chelsea aren't doing it? Manu's golden youth age (and frankly most of them were nicked from other clubs) are now entering the veteran stage and they've had nothing similar since.

[Merv]

It's unrealistic, I feel, for any club to expect a nucleus of youth players to all turn into world beaters at the same time - it's happened once to a PL team as far as I can remember, the most famous example anyone ever quotes.

But what we have got now is a group of kids who are all maturing nicely, who all played decent roles in the team and squad last season, and all (or most) who I would expect to feature next season. Some of them prominently. And while some of them perhaps won't be major players next season, what that allows us to do is to operate without having to spend good money on squad players.

Next season Albrighton, Clark, Bannan, Delfouneso, Baker, Lichaj, Gardner, Herd and Hogg (and also perhaps Weimann) can all, as far as I can see, play meaningful roles in the first season squad. The first two of them arguably deserve to be nailed-on starters, the next two certainly pushing hard for starts. Baker and Lichaj, from what I've seen, are more than capable of being, at least, back-up players for the full-back positions.

That's ten players there who could justifiably compete for places or play some part in the first team next season. That's a very high ratio - I don't see any other PL club bringing through better youth players at the rate we are. It hopefully scraps the need for us to go hunting around for wasters like Habib Beye to fill a squad place, and allows the manager to focus on recruiting more established players, the 'big names' who can lead the side.

[supertommykN'iba]

I think people are obviously going be sceptical because of how it's worked out in the past - Moore, Moore, Cooke, Bewers etc prime examples. But I don' think we've ever had so many top prospects coming through at once? Bannan, Clark, Albrighton, Hogg, Delfouneso, Gardner, Weimann, Baker, Lichaj, Herd & Lowry are all the same generation and if you look at their contributions so far, it does look as if they can all (bar one or two) make it through together. Whether they stay together for the next ten years, it's doubtful, but some can maybe make us a lot of money if not. Out of those listed, they have all impressed in first team games when they've had the chance, very rarely putting a foot wrong. Lowry may be getting a little bit to old now without the level of progress expected but the others are doing well. Coached correctly these players could all be top class and I'd love to see them all get a fair few chances next season - I'd say they're all at the final stage before being the finished article.

[Greg N'Ash]

I'd be worried if we didn't have such a formidable academy set up but the truth is we do and the results in terms of what they produce should improve as time goes by.

I've said for a while now, the best, most sensible and most sustainable way we have of competing for top honours is by producing our own players and wise use of the funds Randy will almost certainly provide to supplement this.

However, fans have to be patient and if this philosophy is ever going to succeed, need to realise that its not an exact science and that the youngsters need to "have their head"  and be allowed to make mistakes without the massive pressure on them that could shatter their egg shell minds (cheers Jim).

Arsenal have doing this for a while but in a flawed way at times. We can improve on it.

do you think people would have the patience to put up with a few years of bottom half finishes while we blood them? I probably would and i know you would but its not too clver sticking youngsters into a relegation fight

What if we're not in a relegation dogfight? The right mixture of youth and experience should set us on a decent path.

I would rather see an academy graduate being given a chance than a mercenary money-grabbing journeyman.

Well i'll give you an example. Say we let Ivanhoe go this summer, would you be happy with Gabby, Bent, the Fonz and another youth player as our 4 strikers? Now i know the Fonz is rated in some circles but he's got to make the breakthrough soon, so say Bent got crocked for 3 months in December would you give him a try for say 6 games and see if he found his feet at the expense of maybe not scoring much or would you want AM to buy a replacement?

[Merv]

I'd be happy with a quartet of Bent, Gabby, Delfouneso and Weimann next season. I thought Delfouneso looked pretty sharp when he started at Fulham, home to Blackpool last season.

But I'll quantify that by saying we do need to look at bringing in a couple of goalscoring players in other positions - wide an obvious example now Young's gone but also from central midfield. If we do that, I've no problems at all with those four strikers.