Per Mertesacker to leave Arsenal at the end of season

[GoonerJay24]

Best of luck to him

True gent

 

[GoonerJay24]

Yeah well neither City Chelsea utd and Liverpool had guy like Saka came out from thier academy. These things are rare we just lucky have world class talent.

City got lucky with Foden and Chelsea with James

Foden not even that good, overrated. Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers look way more developed.

Reece James been unlucky with injuries throughout his career

 

[MutableEarth]

Mixed feelings upon Per leaving.

Undoubtedly did a good job in improving Hale End and the academy overall's success off the pitch and on it, particularly regarding parent/coach relations and retaining superstar prospects.

That said, there's been huge room for improvement when it comes to other aspects of the academy - namely the lack of progressive coaching beyond U16 level and the poor development strategy for talents in the A/B tier bracket (especially regarding loan market and selling). Mertesacker IMO was not the man to oversee that reform as there's been a marked decline during his stewardship, particularly where loans are concerned. We have left a lot of talent and money on the table owing to our inability to cater to anybody who wasn't already playing at superstar levels. As a result, we've made next to nothing on talents and stagnated the development of others by keeping them in PL2 till thy kingdom come.

So while I think Per did an admirable job for his tenure, I think now is the right time for someone new to come in and improve things further.

 

[grange]

He's just stepping down in the middle of a season? Why?

I don't really care one way or the other but that's odd. He seemed decent. Not great but decent. I don't have any ill will towards him like I do for Edu so I bid him adieu.

 

[Clrnc]

This. And what MutableEarth has been saying. Our academy has regressed dramatically as compared to our rivals around. Results has also been shocking

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

I can't blame him, 8 years is a long time to be in the position.

Hopefully he gets a director of football job or gets to spend some time back in Germany.

Great club servant. I wish him the best.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

This. And what MutableEarth has been saying. Our academy has regressed dramatically as compared to our rivals around. Results has also been shocking

The loan thing always been disappointing massive improvement needed

 

[Batman]

Only good memories of his efforts for the club. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

 

[Aussie_gunner123]

Just look at the teams Guardiola mention as being rivals to City academy. Not a lot of people in the country sees Arsenal as having one of the best academies in England. We are falling behind our rivals and just producing one Saka every 10 years isn't good enough.

Who cares what he says, he sees us as one of his bigger competitors with Berta coming in now obviously. He's silly & will always do that to his major rivals. He never gives credit to his competitors.

 

[Rasmi]

Yeah wish him well. Not really impressed with the level of academy both results wise and the level of talent they produce. In fact for a club with our resources and in one of the biggest talent factory in London it’s right down poor

We also couldn’t sign top London talent when they were leaving like rio ngumoha and Ryan McAidoo

 

[viktor]

He likely will take a job with higher responsibility like DOF maybe.

ohh wow if that happen then good choice for him to next step maybe in future he can become arsenal sporting director when he get a lot experienced

 

[Barry]

Surprised at some of the more negative comments. They are probably fair, but the top level youth development from Hale end has been phenomenal from Per's tenure. He's been a great servant to the club. Wish him all the best.

 

[Clrnc]

This is a very good summary of where we are falling short

 

[Thrice]

Just look at the teams Guardiola mention as being rivals to City academy. Not a lot of people in the country sees Arsenal as having one of the best academies in England. We are falling behind our rivals and just producing one Saka every 10 years isn't good enough.

Let's not pretend these clubs produce all their young talent themselves. They just pick the best young talent from youth academies from all over the country by paying their parents.

 

[Rasmi]

Let's not pretend these clubs produce all their young talent themselves. They just pick the best young talent from youth academies from all over the country by paying their parents.

Those clubs just take it more serious in bringing in the best coaches and youngsters. Arsenal academy is average. Far behind the best in England and Europe

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

We do need to get better at producing and selling on the second tier youth talents tbf.

Man City and Liverpool get £15m for kids off the back of a decent loan lower league loan or two.

Ultimately the youth set up is there to make us money along with producing the next Saka or Dowman for ourselves. Hopefully we can get better at that.

 

[scytheavatar]

We currently have ex academy palyers like Malen, Iwobi, ESR, Nketiah, Ballard, Nketiah, Martinez, Heaven, Hutchinson all performing decent in EPL. Balogun was a big sale. BNC is in Italiy rumored to be on the radar of Juve and Milan etc.

The ex Arsenal academy players are nothing special compared to what Liverpool has been producing. And City/Chelsea/Utd have even better lineups. Wake up, you folks have way too low standards.

 

[MartiSaka]

View attachment 42496


The ex Arsenal academy players are nothing special compared to what Liverpool has been producing. And City/Chelsea/Utd have even better lineups. Wake up, you folks have way too low standards.

We can match that.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Best of luck to him and thanks for leaving us a steady base on which to build. It's been a mixed bag but some good times overall.

 

[lomekian]

View attachment 42496


The ex Arsenal academy players are nothing special compared to what Liverpool has been producing. And City/Chelsea/Utd have even better lineups. Wake up, you folks have way too low standards.

Not to split hairs but Bajcetic, Sterling and Elliot were nicked from other teams at 16.

They've produced better defenders (we've been poor at it for ages), but elsewhere its about the same. The only real difference is that they have monetised mediocre kids (as City have done) but showcasing them with great loans etc