Are we becoming the new Arsenal

[Joe Le Toff]

It'll only work if we see these youngsters coming through to the first team using the old adage 'if theyre good enough theyre old enough'

The fact that theyre not probably tells its own story.

In principle im all for a strong youth policy but it does need lots of time to bear fruit.

[friedk]

It can't be a bad thing although if it stifles the young local lads coming through then that isn't a good thing. To miss out on a new Gerrard, Fowler, Owen or Carragher because we have focused too much on foreign talent would be terrible.

the problem is there hasn't been anyone to come close in the last ten years

[fah-q]

What happened with the belgian police inquiry into Arsenals illegal slave trading activities from the Ivor Coast via Beveren?

[ElRobbie]

I thought we tried for Merida? I was under the impression he chose Arsenal ahead of us?

Adebayor was undisclosed, but I'd have thought he cost £5m minimum.

We knew about him was the word from the club, but we just got in there too late it seemed. He'd already had a trial at Arsenal the season before we were even mentioned. He had probably already chosen Arsenal before we showed an interest, that's why I'm thinkin maybe Cesc sounded him out to Wenger.

Shame, as from what I've seen/heard from videos, Barca fans and friends who are Arsenal fans, they could have another player in the calibre of Fabregas.

[ElRobbie]

It'll only work if we see these youngsters coming through to the first team using the old adage 'if theyre good enough theyre old enough'

Not necessarily, part of the plan for the Academy was that if players weren't quite good enough for us we could sell them to off to 'lower teams' and still make some money from it.

Obviously even only one Steven Gerrard making it to our first team would pay for the academy itself, that's the other half of the coin if you like, the one you really hope for.

I guess with the current transfer policy in recruiting young players, Rafa will be hoping that even if these players don't make it we'll still be able to get our money back on them, or even make a profit, which is a bit like my first point about the Academy, he's having to do this because the Academy isn't producing.

[Redspin]

It can't be a bad thing although if it stifles the young local lads coming through then that isn't a good thing. To miss out on a new Gerrard, Fowler, Owen or Carragher because we have focused too much on foreign talent would be terrible.

If a player's good enough he'll still make it. It has nothing to do with buying young foreign players

[Morse]

I would guess that, if and when the new law comes in about academy players, the lads he is bringing in now would count as "naturalised" and would in effect be academy players in the eyes of FIFA/UEFA.


Good lad Rafa...

[Resu]

But what about these Uefa rules where we have to have at least 4 or 5 players from England come through our youth system.

Regardless of all these young foreigners coming in the academy will still have to produce some local talent which is good enough.

I think the rule is that you`ll need a certain amount of players that was at the club before a given age. It doesn`t matter where they`re from, just when they joined the club.

[Speedy]

It can't be a bad thing although if it stifles the young local lads coming through then that isn't a good thing. To miss out on a new Gerrard, Fowler, Owen or Carragher because we have focused too much on foreign talent would be terrible.

So it can be a bad thing, can't it Andy?

[dww]

What happened with the belgian police inquiry into Arsenals illegal slave trading activities from the Ivor Coast via Beveren?

Turned out they weren't illegal which is why the Belgian police refered it to UEFA. Who promptly passed it on to the PL/FA who decided that as the team were in Belgium (a different national association) Arsenal had contradicted no FA/PL/UEFA rules.

Quite how the Belgian police had failed to read about Beveren being Arsenals feeder team is beyond me. I suspect they handed it to UEFA to cover for their own bungling of the whole thing. For Gods, sake everyone knew that Arsenal were using the team to train up youngsters while they became eligable for an EU passport, to circumvent the UK's work permit policy.

So basically nothing.

[Shaggy]

So it can be a bad thing, can't it Andy?

[ElRobbie]

So it can be a bad thing, can't it Andy?

I understand what he's trying to say perfectly well, so why don't you?

All the lad is trying to say is in principle its a good thing on the other hand it wouldn't be if we missed out on a good English player coming through as we have to resort to packing the reserves out with cheaper young foreign players.

There doesn't have to be one given answer to an open question like that :whatever:

Personally I don't think we'd miss any English talent that was coming through, as we'd be looking harder at the English players, but I see his point.

[Dhav]

I haven't been arsed to read the rest of this thread, and I may be seriously pre-judging things by saying this, but it seems to me Arsenal are buying the very top rated youngsters and everyone else, especially ourselves, is fighting for second rate ones. I mean we've gone and nicked this kid from Ajax, and their club has expressed their surprise that we;ve come in for him because they dont rate him so highly. On the other hand, Arsenal have bid something like £7-9m for one of their 18 year olds, who is supposed to be the hottest prospect in Holland.

As much as we're doing to catch up to Arsenal in signing youth players, they seem to be a step ahead still, and are willing to gamble much more on young talent than we are.

[ElRobbie]

I haven't been arsed to read the rest of this thread, and I may be seriously pre-judging things by saying this, but it seems to me Arsenal are buying the very top rated youngsters and everyone else, especially ourselves, is fighting for second rate ones. I mean we've gone and nicked this kid from Ajax, and their club has expressed their surprise that we;ve come in for him because they dont rate him so highly. On the other hand, Arsenal have bid something like £7-9m for one of their 18 year olds, who is supposed to be the hottest prospect in Holland.

As much as we're doing to catch up to Arsenal in signing youth players, they seem to be a step ahead still, and are willing to gamble much more on young talent than we are.

Very true, much the same as what I was saying.

[Dhav]

Very true, much the same as what I was saying.

Just read the post you refer to - agreed