Was it Barcelona?
Did you really just complain that Arsene Wenger doesn't bring enough youngsters up through the side?
I think that might just be my favourite thing you've ever posted.
OH god the same old argument, lets look at the current first team and younger players, Fabregas, Clichy, Song, Theo, etc, etc, we bought these players as players ready to join the first team squad, same with Sagna, Eboue, Nasri, Vela, etc, etc.
The amount of players we've trained who've made it into the first team squad in the past, well, decade, are few and far between, we buy the massive majority of our talent. Cole and probably Wilshire, Bendtner is one of the players whose spent the longest at Arsenal before hitting the first team, and Ramsey looks like maybe being the next youngest player to get significant usage, again another player we didn't train, but bought how he is now.
The likes of Randall, Bentley, Pennant, Bothroyd and dozens of others from our reserves and youth squads simply don't make it, much like Randall, Lansbury, Barazite, Traore(most likely), both Hoytes.
Bendtner is pretty much the youngest player at the club whose been here the longest who didn't walk into the first team on his arrival. Cesc is realistically the only player who was first team before being 20, and he's very much the exception not the rule and we still bought him the 98% finished article. Clichy was great when we got him, only Cole and long term injuries kept him out. We play very very VERY few players who we don't buy the mostly finished article, which isn't the common definition of "youth" in the game. None of these guys came "through the ranks".
Most clubs have a few young players in the first team, most teams don't seem to have the turnaround we do either, keep that in mind. Our style is to buy more young players and sell older players while they are worth anything, its hardly brilliant, younger players aren't worse, its simply a choice.
We aren't playing untested through the ranks 16-20 year olds, we're playing mostly bought players who were 19-22 when they joined the club and already pretty damn good.
.
