Wenger predicts bright future for English youngsters

Manager Arsene Wenger has predicted a bright future for the English youngsters at Arsenal Football Club. Speaking at Emirates Stadium earlier this week at a Q & A session with shareholders, the Frenchman revealed that there are ’six or seven’ English youngsters who will go on to become Premier League players and out of those there are two who in his eyes will make the grade at Arsenal. So, who could they be? Let’s take a closer look.

Well, you have to say that Jack Wilshere is one of them. Wenger was at Underhill to watch the sixteen year old’s innuendo performance for the reserves against West Ham and certainly liked what he saw. Recent comments from Arsene suggest that Wilshere could be one of the two that he thinks will make it at Arsenal, saying ‘I don’t think he will stay in the reserves long’.

Then there is Kieran Gibbs, who has recently returned from a loan spell at Norwich. Having been named on the bench against Everton last weekend, Kieran could again be involved against Sunderland on Sunday. Wenger showed tremendous faith in him when he played the Lambeth-born youngster at left-back against Sheffield United and Kieran didn’t dissapoint, playing a quality long ball to set up Eduardo for the Croatian to score.

Mark Randall is in a similar position having spent time on loan at Burnley in the Championship. Wenger has spoken highly of Randall in the past and the former Wimbledon player played in the Carling Cup last season, whilst still technically a first year. However, Gibbs seems to have an advantage over him as he is more versatile.

With all the hype about Wilshere, many people have forgotten about the talent of Henri Lansbury. After scoring a hat-trick against Burnley in the third round of the FA Youth Cup, Henri has missed the second half of the season after suffering from glandular fever. Despite this, he will be looking to bounce back next season and if he gets back to his best, then Wenger won’t be able to ignore him.

Striker Luke Freeman arrived from Gillingham in January admist mass fanfare. Four months down the line and things haven’t gone quite as expected, with Steve Bould even dropping Luke from his squad for the Play-off semi-final against Aston Villa. But he has bounced back and was top scorer at the recent Atalanta cup. As he has said himself, the real work comes next season when he joins the Academy full time. Arsene Wenger has described him as an ‘interesting talent’.

There are many more where these came from. The likes of Kyle Bartley, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Rhys Murphy, Paul Rodgers and Emmanuel Frimpong spring to mind. Only time will tell, but the next time an opposition supporter tells you that Arsenal don’t have any English players, just show them this article.