Have Arsenal built a core?

As another campaign nears the final stretch, the time for future planning is yet again upon Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. This time however, Wenger finds himself in a pretty comfortable position. For the first time in quite a few years, Arsenal possess a genuine core of players that will have been together for a while and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

In fact, of all of the preferred XI, only Mesut Ozil, Mathieu Debuchy, and Alexis Sanchez has been at the club less than two years. Gone are the days of Arsenal selling their best players before they can fully mature or gel together, and Arsenal now have a strong core which have matured and grown together under Wenger’s tutelage.

The Great Britain nucleus as I like to call it, which originally consisted of Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, and Gibbs (although he has been replaced this season) have been at the club for quite a while and practically grew up together as far as football development goes. In 2011,  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined and strengthened this nucleus, while Per Mertesacker also joined the club.

Laurent Koscielny has five years under his belt after joining the club in 2010, two years before Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla were signed. Add on relative new boys Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Mathieu Debuchy, and there you have Arsenal’s core.

Assuming these men our indeed the key men in Wenger’s army, it is safe to say that they meet the requirements of a core. That is, they are the manager’s go to men in most cases and have been around for a little while and or aren’t going anywhere anytime soon (as is the case with the newest signings).

Ironically, the only two who have been linked with moves away, Wilshere and Walcott, also find themselves most on the outskirts of the core in terms of playing time. If one were to nitpick and exclude them from what is considered the core (based on their lack of involvement on the pitch lately), things would sort themselves out with these latest developments.

The core as I have just defined it has an average age of 24, a splendid age for further growth and development. What Arsenal need now is to ensure the core remains intact and for Wenger to add to it wisely. The club is reaping the benefits of the core finally gelling, and the time is now for the club to kick on.