Arsenal are known as a club that likes to give youth a chance. They’ve got a great Academy system (though it doesn’t seem to have been producing as much talent in recent years) and Arsene Wenger has always been willing to take a chance on a talented young footballer.
If you look at the key members of Arsenal’s current team: Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, etc., many of them were signed (or brought through the Academy) at a young age, developed with loan moves and intermittent first team action and are now fully fledged Premier League stars who would walk into a great number of teams across Europe.
With this in mind, it was interesting to see The Gunners pick up a link to another star of the future last week. The player in question is Fulham wonderkid (those two words rarely go together), Patrick Roberts. The 17-year-old has been making quite a name for himself at Craven Cottage and has even picked up links to Barcelona and Real Madrid. (Source: The Mirror)
Despite his age, Roberts has already proven that he’s got all the ability necessary to make it big in the Premier League. His performances at youth level have been quite remarkable and he’s now got fans and pundits alike drooling with anticipation. Check out these quotes from Fulham’s current manager, Felix Magath:
“Pat is a very big talent and he will have a great career in front of him, so I think it is good for him to make the experience now in the Premier League, so he will get used to it. He will be a player that we need in the future.”
The Cottagers are clearly keen to keep hold of the player. Unfortunately, given their current situation, they may find it difficult to do this.
If Arsenal are interested, I’m sure that they’ll be able to tempt Roberts away. What’s more, they have the financial muscle to tempt Fulham into selling.
Given his age, he’s not going to be the immediate solution that Arsenal need to fix their weary forward line-up. What he will provide, however, is plenty of promise and a source of goals for many years to come.
What’s your take? Should Arsenal be spending time pursuing this Fulham starlet? Do they need to look at more experienced options?
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its good to invest into the future talents as wel as looking for some experience players..lure him to Arsenal where kids r made stars.
We need experience top quality players who will hit the ground running. We buy loads of youngsters and sell them after 4 years benefiting some other team. Wasting money and chance for a top player to help bring success .