The FA Cup fourth round draw took place last night and our reward for beating Portsmouth is a home game against Wigan Athletic. The last time we played them was in this competition, in April 2014, when we went out within about ten minutes, a defeat that would have likely ended Arsene Wenger’s tenure as manager.
But then a certain Per Mertesacker headed Arsenal level, and we went on to win the penalty shoot-out to reach the final against Hull. We tried our hardest to lose that one too, being 2-0 down early on, and if Kieran Gibbs hadn’t left the line we would have been 3-0 down. However, you all remember what happened next. Santi Cazorla’s free-kick, Laurent Koscielny’s equalizer and Aaron Ramsey’s stoppage-time winner saw us break a nine-year trophy drought and lift the famous old trophy (it also gave rise to this epic piece of internet genius).
Perhaps it’s a bit of an omen for this year’s competition, but either way, a home game against a mid-table League One side is just what the doctor ordered. It’s not something to take for granted, but it’s a match that should allow Mikel Arteta to get back into good rotation, and with the match scheduled between a tricky away trip to Brentford and a North London derby, that’s quite useful for us.
Speaking of Mertesacker, it was announced yesterday that the BFG would be stepping down from his role as Academy Manager at the end of the season. On the official websitehe says:
Arsenal is and remains a very special club for me, so this was a difficult decision. I am very grateful for the trust the club placed in me as I moved from a first-team player straight into the role of Head of Academy. Now it’s time for me to move on and discover something new and push myself even further. I remain focused on finishing the season strongly, continuing to nurture and develop our young talent and supporting a seamless transition until my very last day at the club.
Over the course of his tenure, Arsenal have produced a steady stream of players who have made the step up from Hale End to the first team. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Max Dowman are all guys who have benefited, to varying degrees, from his Academy set-up. In doing so, and in some cases breaking through earlier than expected, they may have denied youth level teams access to their talent, which could have affected the results and potential of some of those teams.
But ultimately that is an important part of the job. The pipeline of players is important, but as James pointed out on the Arsecast Extra yesterday, there is also a requirement these days for the Academy to generate value beyond just the players who make it into the first team. In that sense, we haven’t necessarily been as efficient as you would expect. The highly rated young players, apart from those who have made it into the first team squad, tend not to finish as high as you might think.
For example, I remember so many conversations about Charlie Patino, a very highly rated talent at youth level, but who now, at the age of 22, is barely scraping minutes with Deportivo la Coruna in the Spanish second division. Perhaps there is a sense that there is room for improvement with players like these, who could be more valuable once they leave the Academy, and could generate more revenue through sell/resell clauses. There have been some successes; Flo Balogun and Mikah Biereth, for example, have generated solid revenue, but that’s more the exception than the rule.
Nevertheless, it is a tough job for Per Mertesacker or anyone else. Recruitment was hampered by Brexit, which limited early entry for young European players. Even a kid from Ireland now can’t join until he turns 18, and that kind of shift in the goalposts during your tenure must have made the job more challenging. There is also a near-constant turnover of coaches, which makes consistency difficult.
However, I have always been so impressed with Mertesacker’s outlook and his responsibility to the young men he leads. They all dream of becoming a star, a Premier League player, the next Bukayo Saka etc., but in reality most of them will never make it. Some will build a career in professional football, but many will fall by the wayside. This is the harsh reality of trying to succeed at the most elite level. But his focus was always on ‘Strong Young Gunners’, preparing them not just for the game, but for life beyond it.
They receive an education that gives them the opportunity to make it in football, but also gives them the tools to deal with the disappointment and rejection that most of them will experience as they progress through the youth ranks. That is hugely commendable, and whoever Per replaces, I hope this remains a core aspect of the Arsenal Academy. Now more than ever, we need to be as responsible as possible for the lives of these young boys when they are with us, and hopefully that is reflected in those who make it, and those who don’t.
So whatever happens for him, I think everyone wishes Mertesacker all the best. It’s been quite an Arsenal journey for him as he joined Mikel Arteta in that crazy period after 8-2. I’ve said this before: while these two were great professionals and solid players, they will never be considered in the upper echelon of Arsenal greats on the pitch. But I absolutely believe they were fundamental to stabilizing a ship that was about to sink. With their consistency and professionalism, they were vital to the team as players and as leaders. In that sense, they have an importance that should not be underestimated.
Years later, one is the manager we hope can lead us back to Premier League glory, and the other has spent eight years as Academy boss, from the day he retired as a player until now. The symmetry is really something, and it’s quite a story how their fates were intertwined, because as a club we made an absolute mess of the summer transfer window in 2011. Anyway, good luck to the BFG, thanks for everything. We will find out who is next in due course and it will be fascinating to see what direction the club takes next.
The Arsecast Extra is below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, and we’ll hear from Mikel Arteta later as we prepare to take on Chelsea in the Carabao Cup tomorrow. For now, have a good time.
Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS
#Mertesacker #leaves #season #Cup #4th #draw