There is a difference. The players are arriving younger - Denilson and Diaby for example arrived aged around 19 - more of them are British and share a common language and reference points, they are friends off the pitch to some extent (e.g. Wilshere's obvious friendship with Frimpong), and some of them are very talented.
I think Ricky has a particular liking for this change in the weather though, I can't say I share his "100%" certainty that Gibbs will be a top class player. There's only about a 60% certainty that Gibbs will have two functioning legs at any given time.
As for Ramsey, Wilshere and Szczesny, they're already clearly fit for this league, even its top flight. They are huge talents. At some point this argument always conveniently stops dwelling on the players who, like Fabregas and Clichy before them, prove themselves as first team regulars - but it's precisely those players who can be chalked up as wins for for the youth policy.
By the way I think it's unfair to refer to young footballers as 'uneducated'. In the modern game these are kids from diverse backgrounds who may or may not be middle of the road in terms of natural intelligence, but they are often demonstrating exemplary self discipline in pursuit of a goal that requires them to sacrifice both general and academic knowledge.
