Necessity gives birth to beauty….

November 27th, 2008 | by: Jan | Comments(2)

Location: Emirates Stadium. Actors: Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri, Niclas Bendtner, Abou Diaby, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna.

All younger than 22 years old. It was hard not to admire them. The ball went from foot to foot without any disruptance. One touch, normally. Rarely two touches…

These players are youngsters, but still they managed to play Manchester United to a 2-1 defeat.

It was a crucial result for Arsene Wenger. Another bad result would have costed him his job, potentially. It’s hard to believe for the man who is in charge at The Gunners 13 years already. But Arsenal is professional club. Results are the only criterion. No results means, the philosophy fails.

Arsenal’s – and Wenger’s – vision is founded on youth. In his first nine seasons, he spent 136 million pounds. After the 2003/4 season, the focus became the Arsenal youth.

The signing of Jose Antonio Reyes – 35 million euros – was the last big signing. After that, Wenger never paid more than 15 Mio euros for a player. And it was born out of necessity. The new Emirates stadium devoured most of Arsenal’s budget.

While Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool paid humungous amounts for stars like Berbatov (38 mio), Essien (38) and Torres (38), Arsenal signed younger talents, like Walcott (7), Denilson (5), Diaby (3) and Adebayor (10) and Nasri (16).

This strategy was born out of necessity, but it doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. Whenever the established stars leave, new players step up to the plate.

Like in 1987 in Eindhoven. PSV was devastated when Ruud Gullit left for Italy, but a year later they won the European Cup. Ajax was almost broke in the early 1990s and couldn’t find the money to pay Ronaldo, so Van Gaal had to play the 17 year old Patrick Kluivert. The ambitious Louis van Gaal gelled a wonderful team from the youthful Ajax players and enchanted the world.

Feyenoord is currently plagued by injuries and a lack of spending money. The selection lacks width, which is the reason why youngsters like Fer and Wijnaldum get their chance. There’s even a category of “rejects” like Diego Biseswar, Dwight Tiendalli and Timothy Derijk who recently impressed all.

AZ held the hand on their wallet. Van Gaal wanted desperately to sign an older player to add some experience to his side, but when the player wasn’t to be found, he decided to go with what he had. And AZ is now leading the table in Holland.

Necessity sometimes gives birth to beauty…