Could Arsenal’s Arsene be England’s saviour?

Arsene Wenger has taken a lot of stick over the past few years for the lack of English players he has played in his teams. I have to be honest, I am one of the people who has occasionally voiced concern, especially that day a couple of seasons ago when Arsenal became the first team to take to the field with no English players at all.

Exceptional

How refreshing it is to see the number of young English players in that exceptional crop of youngsters that Arsenal now have. Their Carling Cup victories over Sheffield United 6-0 and Wigan 3-0 have been a joy to watch and quite astonishing when you realise that the average age of the Arsenal team has been less than twenty on both occasions.

Up until very recently people have been complaining about the lack of quality in young English players. In fact, just this week Sir Trevor Brooking has questioned what England is doing to bridge the gulf that he says there is in the technical ability of young English players and players from around the world.

Fruits of his labour

Maybe it has taken Arsene Wenger a while to develop his young English talent and we are now beginning to see the fruits of his labour.

Look at Jay Simpson, the nineteen year-old striker who took the headlines with two goals against Wigan. He has been at Arsenal since he was nine years old. He may well be an example of how the Arsenal manager nurtures and develops his players. He often sends them out on loan to test them before deciding whether they will what he wants at Arsenal.

Player of the year

Simpson made forty-four appearances on loan at Millwall last season scoring eight goals and winning the Professional Footballers’ Association’s fans League One player of the year award.

The striker clearly has pace and power in abundance and although his scoring record wasn’t exceptional at Millwall, he showed on Tuesday night that he has an eye for goal.

Let’s look at the other promising young English players at The Emirates:

Sixteen year-old Jack Wilshere is already being spoken of as an international player of the future. He has been likened to a young Liam Brady, which for anyone who can remember the mercurial Irishman playing, is a huge compliment.

He also joined Arsenal when he was just nine years old and made his debut for the reserves in February this year and the first team in September. He has represented England at both under sixteen and under seventeen levels.

Huge potential

Henri Lansbury is an eighteen year-old midfield player who has been at Arsenal since, yes you’ve guessed it, the age of nine. He made his first team debut in the win over Sheffield United in October and has been described by former striker Alan Smith as having ‘huge potential’.

Lansbury has represented England at both under seventeen and under nineteen levels.

Nineteen year-old Mark Randall is a central midfield player or a winger and he has already played for the first team in the Premier League, the Carling Cup and in Europe. He played ten games on loan at Burnley in the Championship last season

Randall originally signed for the club on schoolboy forms before signing a pro contract in 2007.

Kieran Gibbs is a nineteen year-old midfield player who joined Arsenal at the age of fifteen. He has played for the first team in the Carling Cup and in the Premier League. He also made seven appearances for Championship side Norwich last season on loan.

England

Gibbs has represented England at under nineteen level.

Gavin Hoyte, younger brother of Justin, is an eighteen year-old centre half or right back. He is captain of the Arsenal reserve side and made his first team debut in the win over Sheffield United.

Hoyte has represented England at under seventeen level.

Exciting

Without wanting to put too much pressure on these young lads, their progress to date is very exciting to an English football fan. Add Theo Walcott, still only nineteen years-old, to the mix and you can see that Arsenal have a huge amount of young talent.

Could it be that Arsene Wenger, once regarded as the England national side’s public enemy number one is actually going to be their saviour?