Morning all.
“I was playing in the park. They didn’t say anything to me but when I was sat in the car after the game, my dad turned around to me in the back seat and told me that there were scouts watching me..“He didn’t exactly say who, but he told me that there were a few clubs watching me. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I didn’t think about academies back then. I was just thinking that football was fun.
“I remember at my first Hale End trial there were loads of kids there. There were about 60 or 70 kids and we were split up into different teams. There were lots of pitches with different matches going on at the same time. “Now, I’d put joining the academy in the same category as making my first-team debut because now I know how much it really means to play for Arsenal. To go out there at Emirates Stadium every week is an amazing feeling.
“I don’t think I knew how much [joining Arsenal’s academy] meant to me back then but if I heard that about my own kid, if I had one, I’d be over the moon. I know how much it really means and what sort of pathway it can lead you to.
The path youngsters take through life towards becoming a professional football, isn’t something I’ve often read about. To think that at just seven years old, Ashley Maitland-Niles was plucked from the playing fields and taken to the Arsenal Academy must have been a surreal moment. Football was just fun one minute and then next, there’s a huge career opportunity ahead of him playing the sport he loved. The footballing world was his for the foreseeable if a) he had the ability and b) he had the right work ethic. His mother hasn’t always been the best behaved around the club as according to reports, back in 2015, she thumped Dick Law, got arrested and was subsequently banned from the club. Whether that’s still the case now I don’t know.
The World Cup winning midfielder, right back, left back, depending on which gap Arsene Wenger needs to fill, is just twenty years old but already he’s has caused a few heads to turn. If there’s one complaint and it’s being slightly picky, he’s a bit too casual on the ball. But as said, he’s still young and he’s still learning. Just as the other young players in the Academy are like Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Matt Macey, Ben Sheaf and Josh Dasilva. Marcus McGuane was the final one on the ‘Magnificent Seven’ highlighted on the Arsenal website but as we know, he got itchy feet and left. Perhaps Arsene Wenger is now wishing he’d given McGuane more game time in the domestic cups and the Europa League as he did others, especially as our squad doesn’t include an out an out defensive midfielder.
Despite being an Arsenal boy at heart, once Barcelona showed an interest, he did to us what Cesc Fabregas did to them. Maybe one day he’ll do the same as Fabregas and return to his boyhood club. One day when Arsene Wenger is long gone. Mind you, he might cost a whole lot of money by then, especially if he excels the way he’s expected to.
Anyway, back to Ashley Maitland-Niles. He’s set to be offered a new contract with Arsenal which is good news. I guess losing McGuane to Barcelona is not something the club what to see repeated by their other upcoming younger players. Saying that, apparently Reiss Nelson, whose contact expires in the summer of 2019 is yet to accept his offer of a new contract and with PSG and Real Madrid sniffing around, he might not.
Reasons to be cheerful , we appear to be going into a period where our academy is bringing through a crop of players that only need to take the final step up. Whether this will prove to be the work of the junior coaches or the men at the top remains to be claimed. Somebody will want to take credit for the emergence of these players and whhichever end of the scale they are at whether it’s for a legacy or a cv for future employment someone will say that he was responsible.
Let’s hope that it’s as good as the previous burst through with Merson, Rocastle , Davis , Adams etc a group of young home grown first teamers could have a great bearing on Wenger’s successor.
The problem is Potter, with so much money and demand in the game, will our crop of youngsters be afforded time in the first team?
Evening Rico and All
The big problem for all young players
is at 17/18 year olds where do they go,
the under 23 league is a joke for lads of
that age,most have to rely on a loan,which
then involves the agents,and if the agents
won’t take you on,you really have no where
to go.
1st team football at that age,for most is miles
away.
Evening Fred.
HH crashed taking with it most of the comments..
Added to that Fred, they go on loan but don’t get much game time. Might just as well as stayed at the club..
What we need in England, is B teams like they have in Spain…
Agree Kev.
Night guys.
HH crashed on me today too.
Evening all and thanks Rico, shame site crashed as post deserved more comments !
Dont know how a B team will work in the current pyramid system, maybe a B league where top team gets into EL. but that would have to be same for all European Countries.?
Limit the foreign players would help enormously imo, but that has to be agreed by all teams aswell and cant see CFG wanting anything to interfer with their attempt of world domination…………….
And how many overseas players do we have Lc?
Morning all…
New post up.