Another youngster departs. more comments follow about how Mikel Arteta does not want to give youth a chance.
Yesterday it was confirmed that 20-year-old Brooke Norton-Cuffy was joining Gerona for a reported £2million. We wish him all the luck in the world!
Norton-Cuffy joins the likes of Amario Cozier-Dubbery, Arthur Okonwko, Reuell Walters and Mika Biereth to fail to make the grade at Arsenal and be moved on.
It was not too long ago that we were speaking about Norton-Cuffy as one of the highest rated youngsters in our academy and a future Arsenal right back.
Back in 2021, we had just signed Takehiro Tomiyasu as first choice right back to replace Hector Bellerin. The Japenese international would be backed up by Cedric Soares. This looked to open up a potential spot for an academy player in the future to replace Soares. I had Norton-Cuffy penciled in for this spot.
Solid loan moves to Lincoln City in League One and Rotherham United and Coventry City in the Championship gave Norton-Cuffy 18 months of senior football experience. But from January 2022 through to the end of 2023 a lot changed at Arsenal.
In that 18 months, we went from a team in crisis where youth could be the solution, to a team challenging for titles, and in turn signing the players needs to win us the Premier League. That transition saw Ben White go from back-up central defender to one of the best right backs in the league, and the recruitment of Jurrien Timber.
Back in 2022, I blogged how come the summer of 2024, we could expect Norton-Cuffy to step up as Tomiyasu’s cover. We have moved on so far in those 2-years that Tomi is now our 3rd choice right back!
During the same time, another young right back was also catching the eye at Arsenal – Reuel Walters.
Walters looked as if he had jumped ahead of Norton-Cuffy due to our style of play – BNC is a traditional right back who gets chalk on his boots whilst Walters was a centre back turned right back in the Ben White style.
Before the acquisition of Timber, the talk was that it would more likely be Walters rather than Norton-Cuffy who has the best chance of making it. That put BNC as 6th choice right back going into the 2023/24 season.
Another loan deal ensued, and he performed admirably once more in the Championship, this time for Milwall. He was showing that he had a solid career ahead of him ,but just not at Arsenal.
On his return to the club this summer, Norton-Cuffy still found himself as 4th choice right back despite the departure of Cedris Soares and Reuell Walters. His path to first team football clearly blocked, a move was the best for all parties!
At this point, some of you wil lbe saying “Arteta never gave him a chance, choosing to play Cedric instead”. Let’s not change history.
In the last 2 seasons, Cedric played just 87 minutes of Premier League football for Arsenal, and 244 minutes in all competitions. In that same time, Norton-Cuffy has played over 5,000 minutes of Championship football.
244 minutes over 2 years would do nothing for Norton-Cuffy’s development. 5,000 minutes of senior football showed what level he is ready to play at. It has become a bit of a myth that Cedric blocked youngsters getting serious minutes at Arsenal. He barely played.
The departure of Norton-Cuffy and others highlights two things.
The first is just how big the step up is from youth football to playing for a title challenging team, and secondly just how far Arsenal have come in the last 2 years.
2022 we were talking about Norton-Cuffy and Reuell Walters battling it out to be Tomiyasu’s back-up. Now it is a case that Tomi is fighting for his own Arsenal future and has gone from 1st choice right back to 3rd choice.
Yes, I love to see Halen End boys get the chance. But we are fighting for the title and that means those academy graduates need to be performing at a much higher level to get that opportunity.
We can not afford to give kids chance when challenging for the title. And Arteta and his team sees these kids day in, day out and know exactly who is ready. We can not just give players minutes in the hope they are ready.
I saw recently someone say “even Ronaldo and Messi would not get a chance at Arsenal”. This is simply not true. But highlights just how good Arsenal youngsters now need to be.
For a right back to get a chance, they need to be better than Tomiyasu and Timber. Both are their countries starting right back.
An exciting young winger coming through the academy ranks has Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus ahead of them. Regular English, Brazilian, and Belgium internationals! Whilst a central midfielder is battling it out with Declan Rice, Jorginho and Thomas Partey.
It is fairly simple. If you are not at the level of those players mentioned above, you will not get the chance. Nor should you get a chance.
Look at Manchester City.
The one youth graduate to make it under Pep Guardiola is Phil Foden, and he has gone on to establish himself as one of the best in the world. Meanwhile the likes of Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb have flirted with the first team but not really made an impact.
There is a player in Lewis and he could go on to become a superstar. He is also just 19. Meanwhile Bobb is now 21 and has played just 295 minutes of Premier League football since joining the club in 2019.
2019 was also the year Martinelli join the Arsenal. He has gone on to play nearly 8,000 minutes of Premier League football in that time and become a full Brazil international.
Yes, Maritnelli is 2-years Bobb’s senior, but by the time he had turned 21 he had played over 3,000 minutes of Premier League football and had been capped by Brazil. The next season he played 2,806 minutes, scored 15 league goals and played for his country at a World Cup.
Bobb is clearly not on the level at the same age as Martinelli, which is why he has not had the opportunities at Manchester City that Gabi got at Arsenal.
At the end of the day, if you are good enough you will get the minutes. Get the game time. But to be good enough at an Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool you need to be 12 months away from also being good enough for your country. You need to be 12 months away from being one of the best 10-15 players in the league in your position.
Norton-Cuffy was nowhere near being in the best 10-15 right backs in the Premier League. Cozier-Dubbery, Okonwko, Walters and Biereth were also not close enough to being ready. Nor was Chido Obi Martin.
If you demand Arsenal to challenge for titles and demand that we sign the best players, you also need to raise your own mental bar as to how you rate young players.
My final thought is I think back to those early Arsene Wenger days and how few academy players broke through. It was really just Ashley Cole, and he went on to become ne of the best left backs in English football history (if not the best!).
Players to come through need to be the level of an Ashley Cole or Jack Wilshere and not Jason Crowe or Henri Lansbury.
The better we become, the better our youngsters need to become to get the chance. They need to be amongst the best in the world!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 