Since early last season Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has regularly referenced his desire to establish a “British core” of young players at the club, presumably in an attempt to create a contingent of players who will be committed to stay at Emirates Stadium for the long-term.
The first steps towards achieving this ambition took place today, as it was announced that five of the club’s most prominent British players have signed long-term contract extensions, whilst another promising youngster has signed his first professional contract.
Note: Some of these youngsters are eligible to play for countries outside the British Isles.
Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, both products of the Hale End Academy (although Gibbs joined from Wimbledon in 2004), joined Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey and Carl Jenkinson, who all signed from Championship clubs and went directly into Arsenal’s first-team squad, in signing new deals, whilst left-back Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, who has impressed for the U18s this season, turned professional having celebrated his 17th birthday earlier this month.
The glaring omission from those listed above is, of course, Theo Walcott, with whom talks are ongoing regarding a new deal, although it seems increasingly likely that the former Southampton player will leave the club, whether next month or in the summer, with his current contract expiring at the end of June.
That is not the full extent of Arsenal’s “British core”, however, with many other youngsters, in addition to Ormonde-Ottewill, currently bubbling under and seeking to make an impact on the first-team squad.
The likes of Nico Yennaris, Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden and Jernade Meade all have considerable potential, with several players in the U18s, including Jack Jebb, Austin Lipman and Alex Iwobi having been capped by England at youth level. The majority of the homegrown scholars confirmed for next season have also represented the Three Lions at junior level, whilst there are several Irish youngsters currently on the club’s books, including Conor Henderson, James Shea and Philip Roberts.
Arsenal have also been linked with several promising young players from other clubs in recent months, including Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha and Luke Shaw and, even if the accuracy of such reports can be questioned, it is explicitly evident that the club are strongly committed towards creating a homegrown core for the future.
also been linked wilth will hughes from derby could be a decent buy but i think yennaris need to play more is he injgerd
Very good news hopefully Theo signs on could see him doing damage with Giroud up front in some games.
It would be a shame to lose him after putting on so much time patience and money.
Cant believe another player was let run into the last year of their contract hopefully it’s the last.
Cant see were poor Ramsey fits in as Arteta, Wilshere and Diaby are all ahead on him maybe loan move could help him out????
How do you know we did let walcott run down to last year? its very unlikely we did after nasri and fabregas situation. I know for fact that we didn’t. Because wenger said after losing nasri and fabregas that we will sort walcott out but its walcott who refuse to sign a new one. Me personally don’t giva shit about walcott. demanding 100k a week a new position and a long term contract make no sense to me. He think he can be a new henry, its in his head and you can see him play how he try to replicate Henry. But he is very average.
Diaby never play and is constantly injured don’t worry about Ramsey not being ahead of Diaby. Instead worry about Ramsey not being ahead of a new CM we will buy next summer or in January. I am sure something will happen because Arteta is old and Cazorla and Wilshere can’t play alone without a DM. Not convinced by Coq and frimpong yet even though they are good.
I have a good feeling we will bring a new CM, winger and striker. Maybe the best option right now would be a new Wingback and a striker. We need to secure our defensive duties before thinking of more attacking option.
What I can’t believe is that you, and many others, believe the club just sit around picking their bum waiting for a player’s contract to get to its last year before they offer them another one. We’ve been negotiating with the turd for 2 years.
We just secured five huge talents on long term deals before any of them reached their last year. They signed because Arsenal is where they want to be, they weren’t interested in leveraging power by running their contract down for a bigger pay off. You should all be questioning Theo, it’s baffling how some of you try and blame the club instead of the greedy players.
I don’t think we can count Diaby as a sure-fire bet to claim a first team place in the future. Not because of his talent, but because of his injury record. If we lose Theo, we will probably bring in a player just as good, if not better than him. It will be a shame, having spent that amount of time with him, and to see it go to waste, but we’ll just have to move on. I think we can!!!
Theo Walcott is not a “shit” player!!! I do think he’s improving and he will continue to get better. I do agree with you about us offering a contract to him, and him refusing to sign it. It wasn’t our fault, it’s Theo’s problem!!!
Even though he wasted a chance or two against Reading, it was his pace and movement that created the spaces for Podolski, Cazorla and Wilshere to exploit!!! Why do you keep saying he’s shit??? Right now, he isn’t good enough to start at centre forward for us, but he certainly isn’t shit. We need SOMEONE, ANYONE, with some pace and a bit of control to play at that position AT TIMES. Giroud is good and helps the team play, but he doesn’t have the pace. I still think he should be starting ahead of Walcott, but in some matches, you need a player with some genuine pace about him. I can’t see them starting together, as that would hurt our dominance in midfield. The only way to see if one will work, or the other will work in a particular match, is to play one, and then see if you can make a change if it’s not working.
Again he’s not shit, but he’s not Henry either.
mate in 6 years at Arsenal Walcott barely progressed technically….that’s means he already reached his top level…..we can not wait him anymore and certainly can not give him 100k per week!…time to let the boy go for good!
Although, if you look at the first goal against Reading, you will see Theo standing outside the box, while Gibbs crosses the ball for Lukas to head in. I was yelling at him to get his ass in the box, and I would have been pissed if we didn’t score then!!!
I don’t care where the players come from as long as they’re Arsenal quality and committeed to the club.
Aaron Ramsey stinks and he’s stunk for about 12 months. Not yet ready to dump him, but on current form he’s utterly useless to the club.
I also think ramsey has been very poor lately. I think he is too young for the pressure. we need experience players they can learn from. He is not someone we can trust for a whole season but a good back up. I would love players that can pressure the young ones in training.
Your out of line pal. the kid is 21 and is being over used and 9 times out of 10 played out of position. If the likes of diaby and rosicky werent completely useless to the team and if jack hadnt been absent as much as he had then ramsey would have been used far less yet more than likely been far more effective. it would take a very special player to miss almost a year out of the game at 19/20 years of age then come back play 44 times in a season where he lost a good friend to a terrible death and still manage to play around 10 international matches as well. he is a.committed young player who has only taken a place in the 25 since august. give him time get of his case and he could be a david price, brian talbot, kevin richardson type player for us. sure he will not win pfa player of the year or ballond’or but how many players do?
bc,
The irony of your excuse making for the kid’s form makes me laugh out loud. I mean think about it…a kid who fans like (mainly because he’s British, Ramsey) plays like warm crap for 12 straight months and it’s, “ohhh, get off his back, he was injured, he lost his friend, give him more time, etc….” While a player who fans irrationally hate (mainly because he’s not British, Eboue) gets booed off the pitch after only 45 minutes after being out for some months. He’s given less than a half and fans boo him off the pitch!!!!! Ramsey has been given over 12 months and you are still whining up excuse after excuse.
Man up and admit that he is shit at the moment. Not saying that he always will be, but he is shit at present. And just because he’s British doesn’t mean he deserves affirmative action in terms of assessing his form.
I think the players who you want pressure to be put on, are already under enough pressure as it is. Gibbs isn’t being threatened at all, but Ramsey has competition, Oxlade Chamberlain has competition, and has admitted that he has taken on a bit too much this season, so more pressure would probably hurt him. Then you have Wlshere, who is playing great, and doesn’t need any pressure, and probably wouldn’t ever find any competition, such is the level he is playing at right now. The only one who MIGHT need some competition, in my opinion is Gibbs. He is playing very well though, apart from that one mistake against Reading, so I don’t think anyone should jump all over him. Let’s see how Brandon Ormonde Ottewill does. He might be the one to provide true competition for Gibbs in a few years. Until then, I will be happy with Gibbs starting, or us buying an older player to provide some true cover for him. I don’t think we should buy with an eye for putting pressure on certain players. Remember, these players know that there are millions of Arsenal fans throughout the World, and are aware of how lucky they are to be able to play at such a prestigious club, such as Arsenal. For me, that would be enough pressure and motivation to do well, and I’m sure that’s the case for most, if not all of our players.
As for Walcott, I don’t really care what happens. He can fuck off, or stay, I’ll be happy either way, because if he goes we will bring in quality, and if he stays, we will improve him and he can become great.
Ramsey new contract is a good moove , some people forget that you need at least 20 good~very good player in a top team these days. ……Ramsey will be Arsenal’s Darren Fletcher….a player who will probably not be in the starting eleven every games but someone who could cover up when in need, allowing the team to keep his technical level undamaged……Walcott can go we don’t need him ,if someone don’t progress concretely in 6 years that’s mean he reaches is top….wenger should sell him in january and buy zaha, gotze ,reus etc…..theo is like henderson ,a massive overrated player.
If the motivations and pressures of winning games and trophies isn’t enough for a player to get the best out of himself and he needs the threat of losing his place to push him forward then he’s not made of the right stuff. This ‘putting pressure’ talk is bollocks. If a player gets complacent once he’s achieved a certain career goal, instead of always seeking the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and constantly wanting to improve himself regardless of competition for places, then he’s a waste of space.
I don’t buy all this “Walcott has not improved technically” bullshit!!! He has. He holds the ball up better, brings his teammates in to play better, and doesn’t lose the ball quite as much as he did before. No he will never be Wilshere, and be able to play one-two’s all the time, but he has and still is improving. If you cannot see that, then I don’t know what to say to you. We don’t need Goetze, unless we play him on the right wing. We have enough central attacking players as it is. We have Wilshere, Rosicky, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Oxlade Chamberlain, and Eisfeld, all in the first team or thereabouts. That is enough quality and quantity. Zaha is someone who we could use, but how are we going to get him, if Palace don’t want to sell to us??? You have to think about these things before spouting off.
Good article. Have you read our thoughts over at?
http://backpagebanter.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/arsenal-take-the-sleigh-to-the-dw-in-search-of-3-festive-points/
I just hope this new tactic of relying on homegrown talent pays off. Still think we could add one or two more quality players who fit into that bracket though!
Only thing that will make players stay is make them happy winning trophies and earning a lot of money. I don’t believe in the british statement. Wilshere and Gibbs are both from this club from young age which mean they love this club and will want to help but if things is going bad and at the same time they see others winning consistently, and they will be offer more elsewhere then I can’t see why they want to stay. If you have been loyal for many years already and still nothing happen with this club then why not try something new?
Cole left for a reason and he had been here for a long time. Henry left too after being here for a long time.
I just hope we win trophies to keep our players happy. Imagine us winning the CL or EPL again… those days man…
Walcott’s technique has improved immensely, and will continue to do so. To say he’s already fulfilled his technical potential at 23 is ridiculous. Did Henry stop progressing technically after 23? Or Bergkamp, or Judas Persie, or any of the world’s top players?
Where does this idea come from that a player can’t improve their control after a certain age? The majority of players only get more technically refined and consistent with age.
You are correct Wrenny. People have to separate emotions, from what they are actually seeing out on the field of play. Walcott doesn’t deserve to get 100k per week YET!!! He is being a total ass, in my mind, holding us to ransom. That being said, he is improving and can be the answer, or part of the answer, to our centre forward position. You have to separate emotions from what is occurring and look at this objectively. Those who say that he is “shit” aren’t doing that. He has been poor in the past, but that is the past, and isn’t his current form. If he continues to improve, then someone will have a real player on their hands, whether that be us, or another club, we will find out. It’s easy to label someone who you don’t like, or don’t like what they are doing, as “shit”. It’s another to look past that and see that, even though they are wrong, or being an ass, for lack of a better phrase, they can be helpful and are actually doing a good job for the club on the field. We’ll see what happens. I have a feeling that Walcott will leave, and we’ll bring in someone else, or replace him from within. I could be wrong though.
What Theo ‘deserves’ to be paid is highly subjective. Whether he’s worth £100k a week to us is also highly dependent on what he would be worth to the wage-inflation overlords of Chelsea and City. “Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it”.
Personally I think £100k is a perfectly appropriate wage for Walcott. I believe he has a lot more potential to be unlocked and that his performances when he begins to hit his peak in the next few years could be worth much, much more than £100k a week. To me it makes sense to secure him for 4 or 5 years on that wage, it might seem high right now but it will begin to look like an absolute bargain in a couple of years if he’s hitting 30 goals a season and other leading PL strikers are earning twice or thrice as much.
Fans have this strange way of looking at wages strictly as a reward for past performances when it’s not about that. Wage increases come with contract extensions – they’re about securing that player’s FUTURE performances much more than about rewarding his past ones.
Having said all that:
1. I think Theo has acted a proper little f*** by winding his contract down.
2. If he wants to leave the Arsenal, then good riddance and good luck. You’ll never be as good a player anywhere else as you could have been at Arsenal under Wenger.
3. If he stays he will still have lost all my respect for his behaviour.