So Justin Hoyte has completed his move to Middlesbrough and I have to say that it’s about time that he plays regular football in the Premier League. He joined as a scholar in the summer of 2001, then made his debut against Sunderland towards the end of the 2002/2003 season before making the step-up to the first-team. He then spent a season on loan at Sunderland which did him the world of good and he impressed a lot of people while he was there. He then returned to Arsenal the following season and played a large number of games and even scored his first goal for the Gunners in the process. Last season was difficult for him as he only played 15 games in all competitions and was never really going to dislodge Bacary Sagna at right-back. I guess the final straw for him came when Wenger decided to shift Toure across to right-back towards the end of the season to account for Sagna’s injury whilst Hoyte was left on the bench. He was a fringe member of the Arsenal side which won the 2001 FA Youth Cup, a squad which also included David Bentley and Jerome Thomas (who has recently moved to Portsmouth on loan). I wish Hoyte well at ‘Boro and hope that he plays as many games as possible for them. He has been at the club for 14 years and it was time to move on.
His brother Gavin is still at the club though and it’s a shame they never played a competitive first-team game together. If you look back at that aforementioned FA Youth Cup winning side of 2001 (and indeed the one that won it a year earlier) then you will notice that none of them remain at the club. Ryan Garry may have made it had it not been for some unfortunate injuries, whilst the talented Bentley had the likes of Bergkamp and co. in front of him. The Arsenal Academy has been running for 12 years now and it’s all very well producing players for other clubs (just take a look at the many former Gunners youngsters scattered around the top two tiers of English football) but I would like to see a youngster forge out a successful career at Arsenal. The next generation looks bright, with Wilshere already in the first-team squad at 16, and over the last few years we have seen a new crop of bright young English youngsters emerge. The likes of Benik Afobe and Chuks Aneke behind them appear to be special talents and hopefully this time we will see an Arsenal Academy product hold down a regular starting berth in the first-team for years to come. It seems unlikely given the glut of talented foreigners in the game but in my opinion for the Arsenal Academy to really achieve it’s aim then it will need to produce a player capaple of representing Arsenal at the highest level week in, week out.
