On the day Arsenal announce that Nicholas Yennaris has signed a new deal, I thought about how bright Arsenal’s future is at the moment. We have quite a few promising talents coming through from the reserves and also from the youth teams. Most people do not pay too much attention to the reserves, let alone the under 18’s, I do.
I was thinking about all these players and could not help but admire our youth policy and how it paying off brilliantly. The only teams that I can think of that consistently produce amazing, world-class talents like us in recent years are Southampton and Manchester United. Unfortunately for Southampton, because they are in a lower division, teams like Arsenal come and can easily lure their players away.
Looking at the current Arsenal first XI, we would have Szczesney, Gibbs and Wilshere who are all Academy graduates. All, we can call world-class bar Gibbs who, if not for injuries, it would not be a debatable issue. Now on the fringes of the first XI, we now have players like Jenkinson, Miquel, Frimpong, Coquelin, Ozyakup, Aneke, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Watt, Miyaichi, Henderson and Afobe. This was without mentioning the good talents on loan like Henderson and Botelho.
A talent I would like too highlight is 17-year-old Attacking Midfielder, Alban Bunjaku. never have I been so excited about an upcoming talent in the youth/reserves, since I watched Jack Wilshere in reserve games. The boy’s first touch is brilliant, he can move the ball quickly in small spaces and has an amazing eye for goal. Playing alongside Toral and Bellerin in the U18 midfield, you would easily think that Alban was the player bought from Barcelona. He is playing in an amazing and exciting team to watch which has all the attacking prowess but lacks defensively. Alban’s only criticism is that he can’t defend and is predominantly a right footed player but that is a bit harsh as he does pass the ball with his left foot. The defensive side of things is what Steve Bould is working on with the boys and they should be ok by the time they get into the reserve team. Bunjaku has scored 5 goals in his last two matches with the U18’s so far and it looks like there is more to come. I found a video on Youtube, but it doesn’t do justice to the last 7 games I’ve watched him play, anyway here it is… (he is either no.10 or 11 in some games)
The fact we have all these talents is like a double-edged sword, they all can’t play in the first team and Arsene will be spoilt of choice. I guess its good in a way because we will end up with ONLY the best of these talents. I think as Gooners we should be proud we are making an empire of young talented players that have real affection for the team, players like Yennaris and Bunjaku have ALWAYS been Arsenal fans, add Wilshere Gibbs, Szczesney in the mix, we have a future full of REAL GOONERS.
We Love You Arsenal 