Over the summer, Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham spoke directly to fans about the Gunners’ commitment to youth. Now, the club’s managing director, Venkatesham, has opened up about how Arsenal‘s youth policy will help the club in the future.
Arsenal’s Youth Policy to Free Transfer Funds – Venkatesham
Strong Academy Presence
Venkatesham has told the media that Arsenal’s youth policy will pay dividends in the transfer market. This shall be accomplished by stocking the squad with academy graduates, freeing up funds in the process.
Arsenal’s travelling squad in their Europa League opener against Eintracht Frankfurt included five academy graduates. That is in addition to the likes of Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Matteo Guendouzi, all of who joined the club at young ages and usually for a modest fee.
According to Vinai Venkatesham,
“The more players you have coming from the academy, the more funds you can then use to invest in the transfer window because you then have a budget that is being stretched among fewer players.”
However, he claims there is an added benefit,
“More important than that is we want players in the dressing room who really understand what it means to play for Arsenal, players who have grown up with the club.”
Arsenal’s youth policy can be likened to that of Barcelona. La Masia graduates have populated the Camp Nou since time immemorable, all of whom are ready-made for the Barcelona style.
Meanwhile, Venkatesham also spoke of manager Unai Emery in the same interview.
Emery on the Hot Seat
Arsenal haven’t won a Premier League match since the second day of the new season, a 2-1 win over Burnley. Most recently, the team gave up a two-goal lead away at Watford to drop two points.
This has many fans calling for Unai Emery’s head. This is down to more than just recent results; the Spaniard has yet to fully implement one single style of play, making it difficult for him to endear himself to supporters.
That is in addition to some poor displays, not the least of which was the 4-1 loss to Chelsea in the Europa League final. However, Vinai Venkatesham gave his full backing to his manager.
“We are very comfortable with him and his coaching staff. We think he is doing an excellent job, so we are very happy.
“When we appointed Unai, the team that worked on that looked at lots of different attributes that we felt we want to have in our head coach. One of them was, we want a coach who was willing, able, and had a track record of playing young players because that is an important part of Arsenal Football Club.”
Of course, these quotes should worry Emery more than ease him. The dreaded vote of confidence from an executive is never a good sign for a manager; in this context, no news would be good news.
While it is difficult to see Arsenal sacking Unai Emery imminently, this may be a sign that the Spaniard will not be in north London this time next year, after his initial two-year contract expires.
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