Although Arsene Wenger has not won many trophies in the last few years which has been a pain to Arsenal fans, one thing that the club has done which has not gone unnoticed is the great emphasis of giving youth players an opportunity on the big stage to represent a club like the Arsenal.
During his 17 year spell in London, he has constantly put his faith in his younger stars to perform and Wenger believes it is now a tradition of him and the club under his reign.
“It’s one of the values of our club,” explained Wenger, “We want to be very successful without neglecting the need to give a chance to people. I want it to be part of our tradition and I also want to develop a spirit inside the club that makes the young players be faithful to this club. They think the club has given them a chance so they want to give something back as well. It has to work in both ways but we want to be the ones who give a chance”
“Of course it’s an early test that not everybody can take on. Some fail but the strong ones just feel they belong there. They are not at all surprised that you give them a chance. In fact they are more surprised that you did not do that earlier!”
Although he spoke of the chance to give youngsters a run out, he also spoke of how important it is for them to go out with the right mindset and appropriate attitude to perform infront of a large crowd and to represent a club like the one that they are playing for.
“We all love the game and the longer we can play, the happier we are. You feel the clock ticking when the three turns up at the start of your age! You think, ‘Now I have to fight for every season,’ and usually those who last a long time do their job in a top professional way. The ones who aren’t professional enough are eliminated early on in their career anyway.”
“When evolution comes in, it always forces the players to adapt and to find the response to the new situation. The response to a higher physical level is of course a higher technical level, because you have to respond to more pressure with more technical ability.”
With the idea of youth becoming ever more important at the Emirates, and with performances of the quality that Arsenal have give this season at times, you can see that these young players are going to continue coming through. But with the wait for a trophy coming on to its 10th year, are the young players that the club play not up to the pressure that comes with the Premier League? Only time will tell for the Gunners.
Stefan Hobson
