jones wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:
I believe we created the position of loan manager last summer.
I also think you're confusing Bennacer with Jeff Reine-Adelaide. It was he and Fortune that arrived from Lens together and fits the description to the tee that you gave of Bennacer as a player.
Bennacer definitely had more of a terrier vibe to him during his time in the youth team. I would say an accurate description would have been Coquelin with a half decent left foot.
I know about the loan manager, maybe I worded it poorly. I just dont see anything in the way of improvements, my hometown club Frankfurt have nowhere near Arsenals funds and they do levels better in this department.
I'm not ruling out that I misremember Bennacers playing style but I'm definitely not mixing him up with Jeff. I was one of those who wanted him fast tracked into the first team from day one, immediately thought he was far more talented than the two Algerians.
Jones, it's a bit about strategy though. You optimise your operations to help you deliver everything optimally. Big clubs aren't typically known for pushing young players into the first team. Everyone talks about La Masia but in reality other than 1 or 2 special classes of players, Barcelona does not have a steady push of talented youngsters breaking into their first team. Instead, they end up buying players like Fabregas from us. City threw away Sancho recently, and all of Chelsea's kids complain about how hard it is to get into their first team. What big teams need to get right mostly is their ability to attract top players, and know when to replace them as they find better players or they become older.
Arsenal's problem is that it is trying to straddle, and it is struggling to do anything particularly well. In any field, when you try to adopt a straddling strategy, you typically end up miserable because nobody knows what you stand for. That's why fans, agents, media are all confused. We are a sick chameleon.
It would have been helpful if the club was very explicit last summer or this summer and said "we are rebuilding". This means we are going after young men like Saliba, Konate, Under etc with a view to winning the league in 2022. And then players, agents, fans, etc would be quite clear with what to do with us. Guys like Ozil would pack their bags.
