The acquisition of 17 year old midfielder Aaron Ramsey from Cardiff adds to the growing list of highly-rated young British midfielders at Arsenal. Wenger will look to give them all a chance in the first-team at some stage next season, most likely in the Carling Cup
I look at Ramsey, Henri Lansbury, Kieran Gibbs, Mark Randall, and I’m very, very happy to have a good bunch of young, British midfielders at the Club who all have a chance to do it for us.
He also acknowledges the outstanding talent of Jack Wilshere, but is keen not to rush his development
You will see more of Lansbury, Randall and the others in the Carling Cup this season. But don’t forget a boy like Wilshere was born in 1992- when you are talking about the Premier League you can’t be too quick with them. A little bit of the problem at that age is to manage development, patience and also manage the level of expectation that can surround the player, because the pressure is too strong sometimes.
Quotes from the Official Arsenal Magazine
Nonetheless, Wenger believes the future is bright for Arsenal’s midfield and the arrival of Frenchman Francis Coquelin from Laval this summer looks set to enhance that. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the likes of Kieran Gibbs, who has missed out on pre-season so far because of his involvement with England under-19s but he will be given chances to impress I’m sure.
The future looks bright for Arsenal and the suprising thing is that it is predominantly British.
