I am absolutely over the moon we signed up Theo for at least another 3.5 years. After Jenkinson, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlaine, Gibbs, and the biggest talent of them all, Wilshere, were contracted to the club for many years to come, it was important to hold on to Theo as well. Wenger is entering a new era now in which he will be given time to develop these six into the core of a team that should be able to go all the way.
Two full backs, three midfielders and a winger/striker. And we could still see another Englishman added to the team before the end of the month. It would make sense to also sign up Zaha, a self-confessed Arsenal supporter, and make it seven Brits on long term contracts at Arsenal.
Of course, there is also still Frimpong to be considered: will he make it, or not? I hope he will as he has all the right characteristics, although he still has a lot to learn.
On top of the above mentioned players, we have all our important players signed up for at least a couple more years, if not more. So, we should now enter a period of stability and growth. The good thing about combining early twenty year old fine and promising talents with experienced mid to late twenty year old players, is that success does not have to take a long time necessarily. Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Podolski, Gervinho, Arteta, Sagna, Giroud, Koz, Cazorla will want success now, and I reckon this will combine very nicely in the next two to three years.
And in addition to the above, there are a few very good non-British talents coming through: Coquelin, Gnabry, Eisfeld, Miguel, etc; and some more British talents might come through as well in the next few years. And of course, we have our Pole in Goal who is still young but has established himself as our nr.1 goal keeper now.
The seemingly obvious thing to do now is to get an inspirational coach to work with all these young talents. Other than the full backs, all newly signed-up Brits are strongly attack-minded players, and it would be good to have a Master-coach to guide them technically, tactically and mentally/professionally towards their full potential.
I don’t think Steve Bould is the man for this; his job lays elsewhere; and I reckon Wenger needs more support. I am also a big believer in a Master-Apprentice learning and development approach, and for that we would need a top class player, who everybody respects and who has coaching capabilities.
At the moment, there is nobody who would fit the bill better than Dennis Bergkamp.
If he were to join Arsene as one of Arsene’s coaches it would give the whole club a lift. Just imagine how much the likes of Wilshere, Ox, Ramsey and Theo – and hopefully Zaha – could learn of the former Dutch Master. On top of that, he would be a very good coach for Giroud, who, I am sure, would love to get guidance from Bergkamp.
Maybe there are other options. Is it maybe time for Arsene to sign up Henry or Pires as one of his coaches? They have not got ‘the batch’ yet, but they would still be fantastic in guiding our precious talents to dizzying heights.
To me it would make perfect sense to try and get Bergkamp to come and coach all our talents. Get yourself some help Arsene, and bring back to us our godly hero!
Written by: Total Arsenal.
Bergkampesque 