Tag Archives: reiss nelson

Arsenal youngsters give hope to London kids

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Good morning Arsenal fans.

Last night was fun wasn’t it? No just the victory, but the enjoyment of seeing young English lads on the pitch, in Arsenal shirts, and performing.

Yes, it was against a bunch of Ukrainian farmers, playing 200 miles from home who have lost 8 league games this season, but if you used this as a reason to not enjoy the game, well I feel sorry for you.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1068224733454495745

We ended up with 6 London born players (although Croydon is in Surrey and Goodmayes in Essex) play some part in yesterdays game. add in rob Holding, Carl Jenksinon and Charlie Gilmour and it was 9 English born players. Aaron Ramsey made it 10 British born. It is exciting.

A couple have commented that it does not matter that players are from London or England. Well for a lot of local fans, from London, it does matter. you want to see local boys do good. Fans of the club pulling on that shirt. as long as they are good enough.

Think have the side that came through in the 1980s. The likes of David O’Leary, Tony Adams, Rocky Rocastle, Paul Davis, Michael Thomas, Paul Merson and Martin Hayes. All Londoners, all coming through Arsenal’s academy. People go on about the Class of 92, but these lads were as good, if not better.

What would they have achieved if Liverpool had not got English clubs banned from Europe?

Having players like these. Boys from the estates and streets we grew up in, increases the affinity towards the club.

Look at Ian Wright speak during the 89 film. The estate he grew up on was the same as the one Rocky did. In a poverty stricken, deprived area of London, Rocky starring for Arsenal made it a better place to live. Success for Rocky meant success for every single person living there. This is what football can do.

The group of lads now, the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock are the best group of London born lads to come through at Arsenal since that team of the 1980s. Add Alex Iwobi and Reiss Nelson to the mix and it is likely that 25% of the squad next season will be made up of Londoners (and before you start about Iwobi, he came to London when he was 3. He is a Londoner.)

I have been bashing the drum of the Arsenal academy recently.

It was poor for a few years, but that was in the past. Some fans need to realise it is now 2018, not 2012, and that we have a fantastic crop of youngsters coming through.

Yesterday we saw the 4 academy graduates start. Maitland-Niles, Nketiah, Smith Rowe and Willock. Alongside Iwobi and Nelson these boys will be in the first team squad next season. But on the bench yesterday there was also plenty to get excited about; showing that the Arsenal academy is in good health.

Charlie Gilmour, Zech Medley, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Tyreece John-Jules & Bukayo Saka were all on the bench. That made it 9 academy players in 18 man squad. 12 of the 20 man travelling squad were Arsenal boys.

Of the 11 players to finish the game, 6 were still just teenagers.

Of course, there is still a long way to go for these lads. Some will make it, some won’t. But the 7 who go on the pitch will always be able to say that they played for The Arsenal.

A few people have commented about the failure of Arsenal’s academy “over the last 20 years” and it is a semi-valid argument. However there is a bigger debate to be had. all top sides in England have struggled to produce academy players in the last 20 years.

It is so much easier to buy off the shelf rather than give a kid a go. Manchester City signed Leroy Sane instead of giving a run out to Jadon Sancho. They repeated it this summer; signing Riyad Mahrez instead of showing faith in Phil Foden. It is so hard as an academy player to get a chance. Title chasing sides just won’t give you the chance.

Like with Ashley Cole (passport issues) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (injuries); you need luck to break through at a top side. To get that run in the team.

Have a look at the England team that made it through to the semi-final of the World Cup. Sunderland (2), Sheffield United (2), Leeds United (2) MK Dons, Ipswich Town, Barnsley, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Watford and Sporting were the academies that the vast majority of the squad came from.

Whilst Manchester City and Chelsea have dominated youth football over the last decade, they provided just two players to the England squad. Ruben Loftus Cheeck and Kieran Tripper (who Man City let go after he failed to play a single game).

Playing in the Europa League can bu hugely beneficial for young players.

The likes of Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe & Ainsley Maitalnd-Niles have got their chance in the competition over the last 18 months. Chances they would not get if Arsenal were in the Champions League. they would have been reduced to just League Cup appearances.

Whilst it is frustrating for some not to be in the Champions League, every cloud has a silver lining. And seeing so many London lads involved last night certainly makes up for Arsenal not being in the Champions League.

London is a state at the moment. Knife wielding drug gangs, moped thieves, acid attacks. A lot of young (often black) kids growing up on the estates are struggling for recognition. To define themselves. They have little to be proud of except for how many hits their drill music video gets on YouTube.

The likes of Reiss Nelson (Elephant & Castle), Eddie Nketiah (Lewisham), Emile Smith Rowe (Croydon), Joe Willock (Waltham Forest) & Ainsley Maitland (Goodmayes) come from some of the most deprived areas of London.

If they succeed at Arsenal, they can give other boys from similar backgrounds hope. They can give them something to be proud of, something to celebrate, just like Rocky, Davis and Thomas did back in the 80s.

Up The Arsenal.

Keenos

Reiss Nelson: “I want to be an Arsenal legend”

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This morning there is a terrific interview on the BBC with England youngsters Jadon Sancho and Reiss Nelson. The duo are currently ripping up the Bundesliga.

The pair – who have been friends since before they were teens – moved to Germany in the search for first team football. Sancho joined; Nelson joining Hoffenheim on loan from Arsenal.

Between them they have scored 11 goals and made 8 assists in all competitions, form that has led to Sancho to be called up to the England national team.

Despite both being 18; the interview showed that they both have sensible heads on their young shoulders.

There is not a hint of arrogance in either. Neither comes across as a party boy. Both talk about their families. Both talk about how they know they have talent, and know they have to work hard to be the best.

Over the years we have seen plenty of young talented footballers. Most have the wrong attitude. They get the money early, a contract which will make them £5million over 5 years, and they fade away. They get that first contract on their potential rather than their performances, they take the foot off the pedal, become more interested in cars, girls and social media, and eventually fade away.

By moving to Germany both Sancho and Nelson have already shown they have a different mind set. They did not want to be the big man amongst their mates. Paying for the all vodkas in Tiger Tiger VIP whilst surrounded by girls looking to bag (or bang) a footballer. They took themselves out of their comfort zone, to Germany, to improve.

Nelson is living in Heidelberg with his family. A university town with just 160,000 residents – it is the equivalent of living in Oxford or Cambridge. That is half the people that grew up in the Borough of Southwark – where Nelson grew up. To go from a 10,000,000 city to a 160,000 town would have required huge adjustments. He has adjusted well.

The Arsenal youngster was rumoured to be on his way out of the club a year ago. Instead he signed a new long term deal and moved his life to Germany for a year. He was named Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for October.

A few fans are calling him to make a return in January. This would not be beneficial to either him or Arsenal.

Despite his good form for Hoffenheim, he has only started 4 games. To expect him to go from impact sub in Germany to starter at Arsenal is another huge jump.

He would be much better staying in Germany. Over the year forcing his way in to the first team, to become a first team regular. Once he is playing regularly for the Hoffenheim first team, we will know that he is nearly ready for the Arsenal first team.

By the end of the season, Arsenal will be getting a teenage right winger who has had a full season in one of Europe’s top leagues, and who has excelled in that league. What would his value be? £30m? £40m?

The term “like a new signing” is one that is detested by many Arsenal fans, as it was usually used to justify no signing as we had a player coming back from injury.

In Nelson, he would be like a new signing.

He went away to Germany as a boy struggling to make an impact – just 146 Premier League minutes to his name last season. He is set to come back as a man. A first team player who Gareth Southgate will no longer be able to continue to ignore.

Arsenal need two wingers next season. A right winger and a left winger. Nelson could be that right winger.

With his good attitude, his natural ability and his years experience in Germany, Arsenal would be promoting one of Europe’s best young players into their first team. He would be like a new signing.

Maybe in the summer Arsenal should make the double swoop and bring Sancho back to England. See what Dortmund want. And then have the two most exciting talents in English football either side of Mesut Ozil.

If it all go’s right for Nelson, there is no reason he can not become the Arsenal legend he dreams of.

Keenos

Reiss Nelson to Hoffenheim highlights huge problem for English football

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Reiss Nelson is set to leave Arsenal for German side Hoffenheim.

Nelson joins Stephy Mavididi (Juventus), Marcus McGuane (Barcelona), Chris Willock (Benfica), Donyell Malen (PSV), Kaylen Hinds (VfL Wolfsburg), Daniel Crowley (Willem II) and Vlad Dragomir (Perugia) to have left the club in the last 12 months for a new challenge abroad.

Whilst the mass exodus has not massively concerned me – none of them really showed themselves as having the ability to become a regular in Arsenal’s first team squad, Nelson is a bit of a surprise.

He is still just 18 and has had some exposure to the first team, having made 16 appearances last year.

Where as many of the others to have left us saw their places blocked by more talented team mates (Eddie Nketiah, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Joe Willock), there was not really a youngster ahead of Nelson.

Arsenal’s lack of natural width, and lack of investment this summer in the wide positions, would have seen him compete against Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck to play for Unai Emery.

It is not exactly a list of top draw wingers. In fact none of them are exactly wingers, all preferring to play inside or upfront.

With so few natural wingers at Arsenal, Nelson would surely have got a decent amount of game time.

As with all the kids to have left Arsenal, I them all the luck.

I doubt moving to Germany is a financial decision. The contract on the table from Arsenal would have been richer than the Hoffenheim one. Like many of the other youngsters, perhaps Nelson just felt that he would not get the opportunity to play at Arsenal.

The easy option for him, and many others, would be similar to what happens at Chelsea.

To sign a new 4 or 5 year deal. Earn about £5million, and spend the time being loaned out throughout England. To the likes of Huddersfield, Reading, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons (the path taken by Benik Afobe).

Moving abroad shows courage. It also shows a lack of faith or belief from Nelson that he would get a chance lower down in the Premier League.

There is a feeling that talented young attacking players will not get their chance in mid to lower Premier League sides. Teams who shun attacking football in favour of putting 6 defenders on the pitch. Trying to not lose a game rather than win.

The fear for Nelson would be that he joins someone like Burnley, Huddersfield or Cardiff, but is not given that chance and ends up with a season on the bench.

When teams are facing a relegation battle, they tend to pick experience over youth. Serge Gnabry a perfect example during his loan spell at WBA. Tony Pullis just did not want to take the risk on a teenage talent.

In somewhere like Germany, or Portugal or Italy, the financial punishments of being relegated are not as vast as they are in England. Lower teams in these countries are usually more than happy giving youngsters a chance; knowing that their main source of income is actually selling these players on.

In Germany, the situation at the moment is that Bayern Munich are winning everything for the forceable. This creates a situation where a lot of the enjoyment for fans of mid-table clubs is bringing through youngsters. Seeing academy kids get their chance.

German mid-table sides are just a much better environment for a young kid to get a chance than mid-table Premier League sides.

The amount of money in English football now puts so much pressure on managers for instant success which in turn is causing clubs to kill youth football as said managers are scared to play the kids.

Why would you sit at Manchester United knowing Jose Mourinho will not play you? Or at Manchester City knowing the next £60million signing is just a couple of months away?

Even a side like West Ham.

This summer the Hammers signed Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko and Lucas Perez this summer. Why did they not take a chance of Nelson?

They signed 32 year old Aston Villa flop Carlos Sanchez over blooding through Reece Oxford (is he even still there?) or another youngster.

Whilst Chelsea and Manchester City have dominated the FA Youth Cups in recent seasons, and England age groups  performed well on an international stage, there is still a huge problem with young kids getting their chance at a Premier League club.

Keenos