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Wenger's pursuit of English talent lost in translation

Arsene Wenger has departed Arsenal. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Roar Pro
23rd April, 2017
4

Arsene Wenger has publicly asked his English players to take control of Arsenal’s future, short and long term. But the longstanding coach has never managed to recruit English players capable of dominating the Premier League.

He had that gift in spades when it came to players from the continent, Africa and elsewhere, and Wenger can take a lot of the credit for the Premier League becoming so much more cosmopolitan than it was when he arrived on the scene.

Wenger inherited English players such Tony Adams and Martin Keown. I remember being at Highbury while Arsenal turned in a truly anaemic performance against Everton and the home supporters around me spent the entire second half lambasting Keown for his inept hacking of the ball into Row Z.

But those players flourished under his tutelage, while maintaining the essence of the typical English player. The Englishmen who have come since seem to fall into some category of performing well in bursts and then remaining largely invisible for large parts of the season.

Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere and company have not given the type of service that Wenger routinely got out of Emmanuel Petit, Nwankwo Kanu, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry. Wenger described Aaron Ramsey as having the ability to be a Frank Lampard type of player. He and all Arsenal fans must wish that was true.

Liverpool went backwards when they recruited the ‘Spice Boy’ generation instead of the next Jimmy Case, Terry McDermott and Steve McMahon. Maybe Wenger’s greatest weakness is his inability to identify what makes a great English player.

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