Yoof Development

[theHotHead]

I think we have all made mention of the fact that no kids are coming through, under Arteta. Its also been said a lot that Pep is a chequebook manager. Last night's Man City game got me thinking, because I was convinced that they wouldn't beat Newcastle, with 10 mins left. Then Pep brought on Oscar Bobb, a player I have never heard of but joined them aged 16/17 and with a magical piece of skill, scored the winning goal for them.

When you look into it further, Pep has actually developed some cracking players. Assuming Bobb (pronounced like in Black Adder) turns out to be a decent talent, working backwards, last season he brought through Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer, the latter of which I would take at Arsenal any day. Then before that you had Phil Foden and an argument can be made that he was involved in the development of Jadon Sancho - who left Man City for Dortmund to get first team football.

All Arteta has is Balogun. We have seen posts from disillusioned youth teamers that dont think they will get a chance at Arsenal. Bloody Klopp brought on 2 unknown players with the FA Cup tie poised at 0-0 !!!

What is happening with our youth development?? It looks dreadful.

[TedLasso]

Youth development is spotty by nature. At younger ages, there is no fame only talent. Which is why you hear about so many "prodigies" at that age that never come to fruition. The real value of academies like Arsenal is that the provide the prodigious talents an arena to grapple with the fame and lifestyle of being a professional footballer.

Think it of it as natural sorting. Some kids will come through eager to be the best in the world and put the work in every single day ala Bukayo Saka. Some kids will come through and coast on their talents to live out the lifestyle ala Ainsley Maitland Niles. Some will come through and completely choke on the big stage.

I think the perception of a lull in talent is due to two things:

1) The Saka Generation came through years ago now, at very young ages, and has been in and around the first team so long, we don't consider them as part of the youth development program anymore, even though they are early 20s. Saka, ESR, Nelson have all been around for 4+ years now.

2) Now, Arsenal has prodigious young talent in a lot of starting positions, which means pathways to playing time are scarce. So the next generation behind Saka's, such as Patino, BNC, Biereth are all out on loan getting experience. This particularly group first came into the academy in the waning Wenger years and under Emery. This particular group is not nearly as talented as the Saka gen, thus creating a perception of a crater in talent. There's not a single player in this group you'd want getting minutes for Arsenal this season.

3) The next gen of guys like Nwaneri, MLS, ACD, Walters, etc seems to be much closer in talent to the Saka gen. However, these kids are still playing u18 ball each week. Realistically, they are still a couple of seasons from real minutes in a Premier League side. Which means we'll effectively have a 4-6 year gap between strong eras of youth academy players.

Now, I agree that there should have been opportunities given. The dead rubber match against Lens for example. But our shoddy cup performance along with drawing PL squads has reduced more natural opportunities for the kids.

I for one like what Mertesacker is doing with the academies but you'll have to be patient. That middle generation, effectively the u21s, had a few more duds than we would like.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

Is Mertesacker still head of the academy?

The 2 big prospects we have are Nwaneri and Patino. The former hasn't been seen in a year, the latter apparently will be leaving the club.

It's definitely concerning that we have to go into the market to fill every single position. Most of these players will end up on loan anyway, like Tavares, Kiwior and Lokonga.

A CM, CB and LB option from the academy that can fill in for 10-15 minutes would be a huge improvement.

[Nuggets]

Do we have one? It doesn't seem like when was the last time one of them got game time.

[alexafc12]

It's one of the concerns around Arteta. His ability to bring through youth.

Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Cozier-Duberry and Walters should have all got game time this season. The PSV match springs to mind. Why not give them some minutes.

Now we're in a position where were out of the FA & EFL Cup and these lads are very unlikely to get a look in this season.

[firfi]

There is big difference between players that play in attacking positions like Wingers ,Forwards , attacking mid etc that can get minutes if they're good enough and more defensive minded players that needs so much exp to feature.Its natural for backs cb's and cm's to not get minutes its just way too risky to play them.

The football is heading into direction where its almost impossible to develop players.They need to be good enough to play right now for the club and at that age there are very few capable of that.
Let's take Patino for example there are 2 options loan for full season in Championship vs 5 games for Arsenal.
We simply don't have Wingers, forwards youth to play minutes.

Klopp for example doesn't play midfielders for their quality , but rather for the energy to run up and down the pitch and close every situation and in that context youngster can play that role much more easier than in Arsenal's ball controling style.

[Salibatelli]

Klopp has been playing Bradley at full back and Quansah has been playing at CB

Jones has been playing in midfield as well and so is Elliott.

Last season he was playing Bajcetic (currently injured).

[firfi]

Klopp has been playing Bradley at full back and Quansah has been playing at CB

Jones has been playing in midfield as well and so is Elliott.

Last season he was playing Bajcetic (currently injured).

The backs we're due to lack of options.Very thin squad and like i said the midfielders are just workshorses not quality players or passers etc.It was always like that with his teams Fabinho , Henderson etc none of them were elite passers or technically that good.

[jayramfootball]

Seems to be the idea of youth development here is giving a debut.
Obviously incorrect.

[swipe right]

There is big difference between players that play in attacking positions like Wingers ,Forwards , attacking mid etc that can get minutes if they're good enough and more defensive minded players that needs so much exp to feature.Its natural for backs cb's and cm's to not get minutes its just way too risky to play them.

The football is heading into direction where its almost impossible to develop players.They need to be good enough to play right now for the club and at that age there are very few capable of that.
Let's take Patino for example there are 2 options loan for full season in Championship vs 5 games for Arsenal.
We simply don't have Wingers, forwards youth to play minutes.

Klopp for example doesn't play midfielders for their quality , but rather for the energy to run up and down the pitch and close every situation and in that context youngster can play that role much more easier than in Arsenal's ball controling style.

Unless their name is Kai Havertz.

[swipe right]

Seems to be the idea of youth development here is giving a debut.
Obviously incorrect.

Educate us wise one. What does it mean?

[Salibatelli]

Seems to be the idea of youth development here is giving a debut.
Obviously incorrect.

Educate us wise one. What does it mean?

excuse incoming for Arteta’s lack of youth development.

It’s news to me that youth development isn’t about bringing players through into the team. I mean you can use it as a way to bring in some money if they’re good enough but they need to play to get their value up and from what I can see we don’t get much money for our youth players anyway.

[jayramfootball]

Seems to be the idea of youth development here is giving a debut.
Obviously incorrect.

Educate us wise one. What does it mean?

It's fairly self evident and requires no explanation.
Youth players develop beyond their 1st team debut.

[TedLasso]

If you aren't lining up a 9 year old in the box against Virgil Van Dijk, are you really developing the youth's talent? He's gotta learn some time, am I right?

[Highbury Hillbilly]

If you aren't lining up a 9 year old in the box against Virgil Van Dijk, are you really developing the youth's talent? He's gotta learn some time, am I right?

If the likes of Kiwior are head and shoulders above anybody in the academy, we're in deep shit.