The Uefa Elite Coaches Forum is not so much a talking shop as a Harrods of
football conversation. Even “special” delegates cannot help but be
impressed. During a recess at the last meeting, in Nyon in Switzerland this
month, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger were deep in discussion. Eager to
be included, Jose Mourinho strolled over and remarked that here were the
three of them, former rivals, now peers. The facial expressions of the other
two suggested that, even for Mourinho, this was chutzpah. Enmity between
Ferguson and Wenger has dissipated with the recognition that, in their
profession, they alone are on a similar path and plane.
Mourinho has his titles, but trophies are just a fluctuating currency of
managerial greatness. The bullion whose value endures is banked when a
manager creates a legacy. Wenger, who celebrates 12 years at Arsenal this
weekend, is as much the father of his football club as Ferguson is of
Manchester United. No others in the game can say they are leaving such a
stamp.
When a team of apprentice Gunners, eight of them teenagers, none older than
23, obliterated Sheffield United on Tuesday, it seemed Wenger had finally
arrived at the perfect distillation of what he represents. Here was football
played geometrically, elegantly, ruthlessly, with speed and elan — by kids.
The FA Youth Cup began on Wednesday with Rolls- Royce Leisure v Retford
United among the qualifying fixtures, but the real Rolls-Royce of youth
development had already purred out of the garage.
Only at Arsenal could a Mexican boy mark his first start with three goals,
each more impudent than the previous one: Carlos Vela, just 19, looks like
an Aztec Robbie Fowler. Cesc Fabregas is merely 21. Only at Arsenal could a
“new Fabregas” have emerged already: Fran Merida, another playmaker plucked
from Barcelona, is his predecessor’s double except for being left-footed.
Wenger arrived in the Premier League months after United’s first championship
with their “David Beckham generation” of youth products and the Frenchman
believes he has the prodigies to change English football in the way Ferguson
did in the 1990s. “We can achieve what United did,” Wenger said. “I feel we
have the quality to be successful with this group. What has changed is
patience levels have become shorter and we are in a situation where people
say, ‘You haven’t won anything for three years, you need to win the
championship’. Yes, that’s true, but I do what I believe is right and leave
people to judge . . . and I feel I can be successful this way.”
Watching young Arsenal teams triumph in the Carling Cup is an annual pleasure
but Tuesday was a phenomenon. The team was so green that one of its main
stars, Jack Wilshere, has been given a 19-year-old, Theo Walcott, for a
mentor. Wilshere joined first-team training when he was 15 and became
Arsenal’s youngest league player, at 16 years and 256 days, when he featured
against Blackburn.
Wenger was especially pleased that seven of the 14 starlets he used last week
were British and the criticism that he ignores indigenous talent is being
debunked. “We now have — surprise, surprise for you all — many good young
English players,” he said. “Against Sheffield United we had four on the
pitch at the start and they did really well. It was always a conscious
effort to develop more, but the quality wasn’t always available. We still
produced a number of good English players but now in every position in the
youth team we have good ones.”
Wilshere has been with Arsenal from the age of nine, like another of Tuesday’s
tyros, Gavin Hoyte. Their emergence is testimony to the work done by the
club’s youth development department, headed by Liam Brady. Steve Bould, the
under-18 coach, and Neil Banfield, who runs their reserves, are responsible
for ensuring that youngsters graduate to the first team set-up already
playing the “Arsenal way” but the driver of the club’s success with youth is
talent identification.
Many prospects, such as Vela and before him Fabregas, Walcott and Denilson, go
straight into the senior squad on arrival. After meeting the press on
Friday, the manager held his weekly summit with Steve Rowley, his chief
scout. There the latest young targets are reviewed and plans finalised
regarding which weekend games Rowley’s global network of 23 star-spotters
(seven in England, 16 abroad) should attend.
Rowley spent Friday morning showing Vela’s parents the club facilities. Three
years ago his South American expert, Sandro Orlandelli, called from the
world youth championships in Peru and told him: “Turn on your television.”
Vela was starring in a preliminary game. Rowley immediately booked a flight
that took him via Miami to Lima. He arrived for the final, in which Vela’s
Mexico defeated a Brazil side featuring a player already on Rowley’s radar,
Denilson. Real Madrid and Valencia were closing on Vela, the tournament’s
golden boot winner, so Rowley moved to contact the striker’s club, Chivas,
and by the next day had pulled off a deal.
Fortune always plays a part in scouting. In a hot-dog queue Orlandelli bumped
into a man wearing a T-shirt bearing Vela’s picture: it was the player’s
father and they struck up a rapport. But Vela might have chosen Arsenal in
any case. Wenger’s willingness to blood talent is a powerful selling point.
“The reputation of Wenger was the main thing that brought me to Arsenal,”
Vela said.
Continuity is key. Brady has been in his post since Wenger took over. Rowley
has scouted for Arsenal for 30 years: his first discoveries were Ray Parlour
and an 11-year-old centre-back he saw playing for West Ham, Tony Adams. His
job changed for ever when Wenger arrived in England. Previously, a trip
outside the home counties was considered an event for an Arsenal scout. At
their first meeting, Wenger said: “Steve, this weekend I want you to go to .
. . Teresina.” It is a city in northern Brazil, requiring a journey to Rio
de Janeiro, then a further five-hour flight to reach it. Rowley had
travelled no further than Spain on holiday. Now he has more air miles than
the Space Shuttle. He insists on watching every youngster personally before
he is recommended to Wenger. Thoroughness is Rowley’s hallmark.
Every scout carries a laptop with access to Arsenal’s exhaustive worldwide
database and, when they see a new talent, they file a report. If Rowley
likes it, he will ask that the player be monitored in further games before
sending a scout from another territory to provide a second opinion. Should
the soundings still be positive, he will view the prospect himself. Only
then is a dossier presented to Wenger. About 150 youngsters a year are
examined in this way; only two or three are signed.
Sometimes it’s easy. “For Fabregras, you watch him once or twice and that’s
enough,” said Rowley. “Other players may play in a poor league, so you need
to watch them when they come up against a good team. There’s no set rule.”
Fabregas was spotted by Francis Cagigao, a typical member of Rowley’s network.
Scouts must do more than find talent. Detective work is required. What is
the player’s contract status? Does he have an agent? Who else is interested?
And parents have to be charmed. Rowley looks for “personality, enthusiasm,
knowledge, experience”, when appointing scouts, and an understanding of the
“Arsenal way” is vital. Cagigao played for Arsenal, as did Gilles Grimandi,
scout for France and Switzerland, Danny Karbassiyoon (US and Mexico) and
Peter Clarke (Holland). Tony Banfield, who covers Italy, Croatia and
Slovenia, is Neil’s son.
Foreign clubs — most recently Zenit St Petersburg — have offered Rowley big
money to join them and a youth coach at Ajax Amsterdam described how, at
every game, he scans the touchline to check for Rowley’s presence. “I don’t
mind Chelsea or Bayern Munich or Milan turning up but, as soon as the big
guy from Arsenal appears, I know I’m about to lose a good one,” the coach
said.
Sometimes, though, only Wenger can make the difference. Aaron Ramsey chose
Arsenal over United after the manager laid on a private jet to fly him and
his parents to a meeting in Switzerland. Thirty clubs were pursuing Havard
Nordtveit, a teenage Norwegian centre-half. The day Wenger returned from a
holiday, Rowley buttonholed him about the player. The next morning, at six
o’clock, Wenger was on a Ryanair flight to Norway to meet Nordtveit and his
family.
Nordtveit and Brazilian full-back Pedro Botelho are on loan from Arsenal to
Salamanca, where Vela spent a season while awaiting a UK work permit. Alex
Song, Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner are among others who have benefited
from Wenger’s astute use of the loan system, while Merida had a sabbatical
at Real Sociedad. Rowley says Wenger can spot in one practice session what
his scouting team might take seven viewings to divine about a player. He
knows that every recruit must be good enough to share a pitch with someone
like Fabregas immediately. Wenger makes it policy to throw every new kid
arriving straight into first-team training to assess his status. What does
the manager seek in youngsters? “To be technically gifted, agile and
intelligent,” he said.
Intelligent. Wenger believes footballers must tick four boxes. Only two relate
to the physical; intellect and mentality are the others. Players with
brainpower, he feels, analyse themselves and improve quicker. Rowley is
looking at ways of bringing psychological testing into the recruitment
process. His next scouting appointments will be in Australia and Africa.
Arsenal’s reach is lengthened by Wenger’s contacts around the globe. His
friend Jean-Michel Guillou, who discovered Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue,
has set up academies in Africa, Asia and Europe with which the club is in
commercial partnerships. Scouting has saved Arsenal not millions but
hundreds of millions. Last year Premier League clubs spent £120m on players
aged 21 or younger. Fabregas was acquired for about £700,000. Vela, contrary
to reports that he cost £2.5m, arrived for a £125,000 fee that will rise to
£550,000 if he plays 50 first-team games.
Chelsea have lavished untold sums on a worldwide network of more than 60
scouts but have yet to find a Djourou, never mind a Fabregas. Liverpool have
paid about £20m to bring 30 foreign youngsters into their youth ranks.
Tottenham appointed Damien Commoli as football director because he worked
with Wenger but that helped to prompt Martin Jol’s departure and Juande
Ramos ignores the bulk of Commoli’s “finds”. At Newcastle, the controversial
appointment of Dennis Wise and his team of player recruiters was made
because owner Mike Ashley wanted to “do an Arsenal”.
The unique cannot be copied. The most respected systems outside Arsenal are
those that go their own way — Leeds, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Aston
Villa. United had a lean spell with young players until Ferguson revitalised
his system, learning from Wenger by expanding his world scouting network and
using his greater spending scope to acquire top prospects such as Cristiano
Ronaldo, whom Sporting Lisbon almost sold to Arsenal until United’s £12.2m
bid.
Lionel Messi was another “one who got away”. At 16 the Argentine was
interested in following his close friend Fabregas from Barça to Arsenal but
work permit issues got in the way.
Perhaps at United, Liverpool or Chelsea, Wenger would not have been allowed
three trophyless seasons but his conviction that silverware is round the
corner if he keeps trusting in his young players is as powerful as was
Ferguson’s when he let senior players leave United and promoted Beckham &
Co. Perhaps in Nyon, Wenger and Ferguson were talking about a common
philosophy.
“Why do I do it?” Wenger asked. “That’s the privilege of being a long time
inside the club. You can win or lose but you can also give a culture and a
way to play the game that lives beyond you.”
Teenage recruits of ‘Big Four’ out on loan
ARSENAL
Philippe Senderos (Milan) Pedro Botelho (Salamanca) Kerrea Gilbert (Leicester)
Armand Traore (Portsmouth) Nacer Barazite (Derby) Havard Nordtveit
(Salamanca)
MAN UTD
Danny Simpson (Blackburn) Fraizer Campbell (Spurs) Febian Brandy (Swansea) Tom
Heaton (Cardiff) Lee Martin (Forest) Craig Cathcart (Plymouth)
LIVERPOOL
Godwin Antwi (Tranmere) Sebastian Leto (Olympiakos) Craig Lindfield
(Bournemouth) Robbie Threlfall (Hereford) Adam Hammill (Blackpool) David
Martin (Leicester) Jack Hobbs (Leicester) Paul Anderson (Forest)
CHELSEA
Lee Sawyer (Southend) Slobodan Rajkovic (FC Twente) Shaun Cummings (MK Dons)
Ryan Bertrand (Norwich) Ben Sahar (Portsmouth)
Teenage kicks: How Arsenal’s rivals are playing catchup
MANCHESTER UNITED
Sir Alex Ferguson has borrowed from Arsène Wenger the principle that the
search for talent must be a worldwide one and refreshed his global scouting
network. He has brought in fewer prospects, but ones who are already
established. United gazumped Arsenal to buy Cristiano Ronaldo at 18. Wayne
Rooney, Anderson, Rodrigo Possebon and the Da Silva twins also arrived as
teenagers, all (including Ronaldo) costing £64m. At the same time, United
have not forgotten local youth. Fraizer Campbell and Danny Welbeck are
billed as future England strikers Notable young playersFraizer
Campbell, Fabio and Rafael Da Silva, Danny Welbeck, Rodrigo Possebon
LIVERPOOL
Rafael Benitez has tried to recreate the ‘Wenger system’, with 30 young
foreign players spread across his reserve and youth teams. The cost of this
programme is estimated to be £20m and last week the club was linked with
Aislan, a 20-year-old Brazilian valued at £10.5m. Prospects are starting to
graduate into the first-team squad, such as Damien Plessis, a French
midfielder, and Argentine full-back Emiliano Insua. Almost the entire 2006
FA Youth Cup-winning side, however, was discarded and the club parted
company with academy director Steve Heighway Notable young playersEmiliano
Insua, Damien Plessis, Daniel Pacheco, Krisztian Nemeth, David Ngog
CHELSEA
After spending £11m on a centre for the club’s youngsters, it cost more than
£10m, in wages and compensation to Spurs, to employ Frank Arnesen as
sporting director. More than 60 scouts are employed worldwide and about £30m
is spent on teenage players. Yet Chelsea were humbled in last season’s FA
Youth Cup final by Manchester City. They have also been active in poaching
youngsters from English academies and settled out of court to avoid action
after signing Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods from Leeds. Some fine players are
emerging, including Scott Sinclair Notable young playersScott
Sinclair, Michael Mancienne, Franco Di Santo, Slobodan Rajkovic
Superscouts
STEVE ROWLEY First struck gold for Arsenal when he poached an
11-year-old Tony Adams from West Ham. Travels the globe to see every
prospect personally and enjoys a close relationship with Wenger
FRANCIS CAGIGAO A former Barcelona player, he is Wenger's eyes and ears
in Spain and Portugal. Cagigao’s biggest coups were alerting the boss to
Cesc Fabregas when the player was 14 and then helping lure a second Barça
prodigy, Fran Merida
JOHN CALVERT-TOULMIN Hit a rich seam of success for United in Brazil,
where he was instrumental in the deal that took Fabio and Rafael Da Silva to
Old Trafford and spotted midfield prodigy Rodrigo Possebon at Internacional
EDUARDO MACIA Joined Liverpool after working with Rafa Benitez at
Valencia as sporting director. Macia has played a major part in recruiting
Liverpool’s Spanish prospects, who include Daniel Pacheco, a striker signed
from Barcelona, and Gerardo Bruna, a midfield star poached from Real Madrid
29.2
The amount in millions that it has cost Arsenal for the 12 players brought in
as teenagers. United have spent £64m, Liverpool about £20m and Chelsea £35m
pursuing the same policy
THE WORLD STAR
Carlos Vela, 19 Sandro Orlandelli, Arsenal’s Brazil scout, was at the
2005 World Under17 tournament when he called Steve Rowley to say, ‘turn on
your TV!’ n Rowley flew straight to Peru and after watching Vela in the
final tied up a deal with his club Chivas n English clubs can sign anyone
from the European Economic Area provided they are over 16 but work permit
restrictions apply to players from further afield, such as Vela, from
Mexico. Because he was not a full international, Arsenal had to ‘park’ him
in Spain for two-and-a-half years, first at Celta Vigo then at Salamanca and
Osasuna n After meeting criteria by proving himself to be a ‘player of
outstanding value’, Vela was granted a work permit for Britain in May and
scored a hat-trick in his first competitive start for Arsenal against
Sheffield Utd
THE EURO STAR
Cesc Fabregas, 21 European scout Francis Cagigao was so stunned when he
saw Fabregas in an Under15 game in Barcelona, he phoned Rowley from
pitchside to say, ‘Steve, you’ve got to come over...’ n In Spain clubs are
prohibited from awarding professional contracts until players are 18.
Arsenal exploited this loophole to lure Fabregas. No transfer fee was
involved and a compensation sum of £700,000 was paid instead n Fabregas
looked so at home he never left and became Arsenal’s youngest ever
first-team debutant, aged 16 years and 177 days
THE HOMEGROWN WONDER
Jack Wilshere, 16 Premier League rules only allow clubs to recruit
players under 14 who live within 60 minutes’ travel time from their
academies and Arsenal must vie with 15 other clubs in the London area. After
a hiatus the Gunners are once more proving adroit at discovering local gems,
such as Wilshere, who hails from Hertfordshire n Players must be eight or
older before they can sign forms. Wilshere was nine. Around 120 boys attend
the academy at Hale End and Wilshere was developed by a team of Under18s
coaches headed by former player Steve Bould n Wenger believes in
fast-tracking. Wilshere made his reserve debut shortly after his 16th
birthday and was one of five kids selected to join the first-team squad for
preseason training in Austria n Impressing there, he made his first-team
debut against Blackburn aged 16 years and 256 days and is seen as the best
English player of his age since Wayne Rooney
THE FEEDER CLUB AFRICAN
Emmanuel Eboue, 25 From 2001 to 2006 Arsenal had a feeder-club link
with Beveren in Belgium, formed through Wenger’s close friendship with
French guru Jean Michel Guillou, who sent players to Europe from the ASEC
Academy in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast. n Kolo Toure went straight from ASEC to
Arsenal. Eboue went to Beveren first, before being signed by Wenger. Guillou
now runs a worldwide group of academies with which Arsenal have a commercial
tie-up n Steve Morrow, the club’s former midfielder, oversees the link as
part of his duties as International Partnerships Performance Supervisor and
Wenger is in line to snap up any talent emerging from the ‘JMG Academies’ in
Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt, Algeria, Madagascar, Mali, Ghana and Belgium
THE BRITISH PROSPECT
Theo Walcott, 19 After impressing at Southampton, the forward was
snapped up by Wenger in January 2006, when he was 16, for an initial fee of
£5m, eventually rising to £9.1m, though he did not sign a professional
contract until he turned 17 in March 2006 n The subject of much hype when he
was called up to the 2006 World Cup squad without making a League
appearance, he has been slowly integrated into the club’s starting eleven.
In August 2006, he became the youngest ever Arsenal player in European
competition but did not make his first Premier League start until October
2006. Confirmation of his talent came earlier this month when he became the
youngest England player to score a hat-trick, in the 4-1 win over Croatia
THE BEST OF THE REST FROM TUESDAY NIGHT…
1 Alexandre Song, aged 21, from Cameroon and Young Player of the
Tournament in this year’s African Nations Cup
2 Carlos Vela, 19, see above
3 Aaron Ramsey, 17, helped Cardiff to last season’s FA Cup final, then
joined for £5m
4 Johan Djourou, 21, the Swiss centre-back recently celebrated a new
contract
5 Kieran Gibbs, 19, his improvement at left-back has made him
understudy to Gael Clichy
6 Jack Wilshere, 16, see above
7 Gavin Hoyte, 18, older brother Justin moved to Sunderland in the
summer, allowing Gavin to step into the right-back position
8 Mark Randall, 19, the fourth Englishman in the lineup, he is another
creative midfielder
9 Fran Merida, 18, Barcelona-born midfielder recently returned from
loan in Spain
10 Nicklas Bendtner, 20, forward who was the most experienced player
with 21 Danish caps
Lukasz Fabianski , 23, Polish international who was captain on Tuesday
