© JumpStory
„Arsenal“ coach Arsene Wenger was criticized this summer for not acquiring a top class striker, but he himself claimed that his team does not have any issues in that position.
„The Gunners“ were linked in the summer with strikers like Edinson Cavani and Karim Benzema, but no transfer happened.
Also, Danny Welbeck suffered a long-term injury, leaving Olivier Giroud as the only true striker among the ranks of „Arsenal“.
However, A. Wenger values his current players and defends his decision not to buy new players.
„I think Walcott, Giroud, and Sanchez can easily score about 20 goals per season“ - said A. Wenger.
„Sometimes you have to trust your current players and let them play. People want complete certainty that the player will succeed. However, that doesn't always happen.“
„I would prefer Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil to score 15, Santi Cazorla 10. Otherwise, the team will only have one player who scores, and when he is out due to injury, there will be no one left to score.“
„Arsenal“ coach also noticed that Europe is experiencing a shortage of strikers.
„Strikers nowadays come from South America. They no longer grow in Europe.“
„You can look at countries like Germany, where in matches against Poland and Scotland, attacking midfielder Mario Gotze played. I don't think they simply don't want to play with a typical striker, they just don't have a player in that position who has already proven his worth.“
The Frenchman believes the problem lies with the youth academies of clubs, which should be concerned about players' positions from a younger age.
„I am convinced that academies should specialize players. From 5 to 12 years old, a child acquires technical skills. From 12-14 years old, he improves his speed and physical abilities, and from then on young people should be started to train in one position. Maybe academies need to pay more attention to specific positions again.“
„Maybe we need to rethink player development and start thinking about positions earlier. Now there are many very technical players because we have a lot of good pitches - in the past, young people had to play in parks, where everyone simply pushed the ball forward and fought.“
„A 12-year-old playing against a 16-year-old had to be very agile and push him to take the ball. Such things are no longer present nowadays.“ - expressed A. Wenger's thoughts.
