Mertesacker to depart at the end of the season + FA Cup 4th round draw

Morning.

The draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup took place last night, and our reward for beating Portsmouth is a home tie against Wigan Athletic. The last time we played them was in this very competition, in April 2014 when we were within 10 minutes or so of going out, a defeat that would probably have ended Arsene Wenger’s tenure as manager.

But then, a certain Per Mertesacker headed Arsenal level, and we went on to win the penalty shoot-out to reach the final against Hull. We did our level best to try and lose that one too, going down 2-0 early on, and but for a Kieran Gibbs clearance off the line, we’d have been 3-0 behind. You all remember what happened next though. Santi Cazorla’s free kick, Laurent Koscielny’s equaliser, and Aaron Ramsey’s injury time winner saw us break the 9 year trophy drought and lift the famous old trophy (it also gave rise to this epic piece of Internet brilliance).

Maybe it’s a bit of an omen for this year’s competition, but regardless, a home tie against a mid-table League One side is just what the doctor ordered. It’s not to take anything for granted, but it’s a game that should allow Mikel Arteta to rotate properly again, and given that game is scheduled between a tricky away trip to Brentford, and a North London derby, that’s pretty useful for us.

Speaking of Mertesacker, it was announced yesterday that the BFG would be stepping down from his role as Academy Manager at the end of the season. On the official website, he says:

Arsenal is and will always be a very special club to me, so this was a difficult decision. I am very thankful for the trust the club put in me when transitioning from a first-team player directly into the role as Head of Academy. Now it is time for me to move on and explore something new and push myself even further. I remain focused on finishing the season strongly, continuing to nurture and develop our young talent and support a seamless transition until my very last day with the club.

Over the course of his tenure, Arsenal have produced a steady stream of players who have made the transition from Hale End to the first team. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Max Dowman, are all guys who have benefitted, to varying degrees, from his Academy set-up. In doing so, and in some cases breaking through earlier than expected, they’ve potentially denied teams at youth level access to their talent, which might have impacted results and the potency of some of those teams.

Ultimately though, that’s a key part of the job. The pipeline of players is important, but as James pointed out on the Arsecast Extra yesterday, in this day and age there’s also a requirement for the Academy to generate value above and beyond the players who make it to the first team. In that sense, we haven’t necessarily been as efficient as you’d expect. The highly rated young players, beyond the ones who have made it to the first team squad, don’t tend to land as highly as you’d think.

For example, I remember so much chat about Charlie Patino, a very highly-rated talent at youth level, but who is now, at 22, scrapping for scant minutes with Deportivo la Coruna in the Spanish second division. Perhaps there’s a sense that there’s room for improvement with players like this, who could be more valuable when they leave the Academy, and generate more revenue via sales/sell-on clauses. There have been some successes, Flo Balogun and Mikah Biereth, for example, have generated solid income, but they’re more the exception than the rule.

Nevertheless, it’s a tough gig for Per Mertesacker or anyone else. Recruitment was made more complicated by Brexit, restricting early access to young European players. Even a kid from Ireland now cannot join until they turn 18, and to have that kind of a shift in the goalposts during your tenure must have made the job more challenging. There’s also a near constant churn of coaches which makes consistency difficult.

However, I’ve always been so impressed with Mertesacker’s outlook and his responsibility to the young men he’s in charge of. They’ll all dream of being a star, a Premier League player, the next Bukayo Saka etc, but the reality most of them will never make it. Some will forge a career in professional football, but many will fall by the wayside. This is the harsh reality of trying to succeed at the most elite level. But his focus has always been on ‘Strong Young Gunners’, preparing them not just for the game, but for life outside of it too.

They receive an education which will give them a chance to make it in football, but also equip them with the tools to deal with the disappointment and rejection that most of them will experience as they come up through the youth ranks. That’s hugely commendable, and whoever replaces Per, I hope that remains a core facet of the Arsenal Academy. More than ever, we need to be as responsible as possible for the lives of these young guys when they’re with us, and hopefully that’s reflected in the ones who make it, and the ones who don’t.

So, whatever happens next for him, I think everyone would wish Mertesacker the very best. It’s been quite an Arsenal journey for him, joining in that crazy post 8-2 period along with Mikel Arteta. I’ve said this before, that while these two were great professionals and solid players, they’re never going to be considered in the upper echelons of Arsenal greats on the pitch. But I absolutely believe they were fundamental to steadying a ship which was close to sinking, with their consistency and professionalism they were vital to the team as players and as leaders. In that sense, they have an importance that shouldn’t be understated.

Years later, one is the manager who we hope can lead us back to Premier League glory, and the other has spent eight years as Academy boss, from the day he retired as player until now. The symmetry is really something, and it’s quite a story how their fates intertwined because as a club we made an absolute mess of the summer transfer window in 2011.  Anyway, best of luck to the BFG, thanks for everything. We’ll find out in due course who comes next and it’ll be fascinating to see what direction the club go in now.

The Arsecast Extra is below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, and we’ll hear from Mikel Arteta later as we prepare to face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup tomorrow. For now, have a good one.

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