Is Arsenal's Youth System Failing or Flourishing?

Youth development is a hot topic in British football.

Following FA Chairman Greg Dyke’s bullish statement of intent about his desire for England to win the World Cup in 2022, as reported by James Riach of the Guardian, Premier League clubs are under greater pressure than ever to produce British international players.

Arsenal cannot be accused of neglecting domestic players. Last year, the celebrated sextet of Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all signed long-term contracts with the club. Arsenal are consciously building around a youthful British core. 

It’s a policy that sits well with the club’s image of being at the forefront of youth development. Arsene Wenger is known as a cultured moulder of talent. His nickname, “The Professor,” stems not just from his academic tone and epigrammatic speech. He is a natural teacher, fascinated by extracting potential from prodigiously gifted youngsters. 

However, of the six British players mentioned above, only two were true products of the Arsenal academy: Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere.

Ramsey, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott all played their first league football away from the Emirates Stadium. Ramsey was produced by Cardiff prior to a transfer tug-of-war between Arsenal, Everton and Manchester United that the Gunners ultimately won. Jenkinson learned his trade in League Two with Charlton. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott were both products of the same esteemed Southampton academy that produced Gareth Bale.

Between them, those four teenagers cost Arsenal nearly as much as the lavish fee they have just paid for Mesut Ozil. 

Of the current Arsenal senior squad, only Wilshere, Gibbs and Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny can be said to be true graduates of Arsenal’s academy.

Having three academy players established in the first-team is an impressive achievement for a Champions League club. Certainly none of the major English sides can compete with that ratio.

However, that trio made their breakthrough several years ago now. Wilshere made his Premier League debut in September 2008, and Gibbs was just a few months behind. After a promising loan spell at Brentford, Szczesny made his Arsenal league debut in the daunting surroundings of Old Trafford in December 2010.

Since then, the flow of talent from academy to senior team has slowed considerably. The likes of Ignasi Miquel, Emmanuel Frimpong and Benik Afobe have all been handed first-team opportunities without being able to convince Arsene Wenger they deserve a regular place in the matchday squad.

The current crop of youngsters includes promising multi-national players like Damian Martinez, Hector Bellerin and Chuba Akpom. English forward Akpom was handed his Premier League debut this weekend, as a replacement for the injured Olivier Giroud. However, this occurred more out of desperation than any grand plan. None of these youngsters are particularly close to a first-team breakthrough.

Why has Arsenal’s academy become less productive?

The simple answer is that the Gunners have entered a new chapter in the club’s development.

In the immediate aftermath of the move to the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal were forced to focus their efforts on developing talent from within. The budgetary constraints were such that they could not afford to bring in established talent. The likes of Gibbs were beneficiaries of that policy.

In 2009, just weeks before handing Gibbs his Premier League debut, Arsene Wenger told the official club website: 

"

If you take the top 10 clubs all over Europe we are the only ones who give a chance to young players. And when you are at that age you go where you can smell the chance to play.

"

What Arsene Wenger did not reveal at the time was that he adopted this ideology out of necessity. Arsenal had no choice but to turn to internally produced players. However, the strategy bore little fruit—Arsenal are yet to win a trophy since switching stadiums. 

Several years on, financially recovered but still hunting for silverware, Arsenal are changing direction.

In February of this year, speaking again to the club’s official website, Wenger made the following telling comments: 

"

You can play well for 80 minutes and lose a game because one or two players make a mistake in decisive moments against experienced players.

You grow with the knowledge of the game and you make your career with your qualities but with your experience as well. When the balance is not in favour of experience, of course it’s difficult.

"

Contained within those words is an admission of the flaws of his youthful experiment. Wenger’s recent transfer history corroborates that change of plan. He has opted to sign experienced players like Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Lukas Podolski to supplement his youthful charges.

The recent signing of Ozil is the perfect microcosmic encapsulation of this strategic shift—Arsenal are now able to sign established world-class talent instead of being forced to make their own. Whereas once Arsene Wenger would have to patiently develop a teenage Cesc Fabregas, he can now afford to purchase the fully ripened and ready version.

Now Arsenal are able to recruit seasoned professionals, there is inevitably less space in the squad for academy products. 

Arsenal’s youth system is not failing. It merely faces a more difficult job than ever before.

Next week Arsenal take on West Brom in the Carling Cup. In previous years that competition was the preserve of the young players. Now, the desire to win a trophy at all costs is so great that experienced players are likely to be used instead. The opportunities for young players to impress are diminishing all the time. 

However, one would like to hope that exceptional talent will still progress. Arsene Wenger may have changed his policy, but he has not lost his eye for a player.

The increased competition should ensure that only the most gifted players make it through to the senior set-up. The likes of Wilshere will always find a place at Wenger’s Arsenal.

If Arsenal can turn up just one of those players every few years, they’ll have saved themselves millions and justified their academy investment.