Wenger pledges to develop more home-grown players at Arsenal
Arsène Wenger yesterday promised Arsenal shareholders that there will soon be more Englishmen in his team.
The manager made his annual address to the club's AGM admitting that Arsenal's record had been poor in producing England-qualified players. With the recent departures of Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell, Arsenal have had to rely on Justin Hoyte and Theo Walcott for an English presence at the Emirates Stadium.
Wenger is aware that this must change. "We have less developed English players than young foreign talent," he said. "That is down to one basic reason: [England] has produced less talent because it responded later to the quality of the academy system. In the next three or four years we will have developed the top-level domestic talent we have growing at the club."
It is expected that the 17-year-old midfielder Mark Randall and 19-year-old Matthew Connolly will play in the Carling Cup tie at West Bromwich Albion next week. In that match Randall may replace the Spanish midfielder Cesc Fábregas, who yesterday announced having agreed a new eight-year contract at Arsenal.
Meanwhile, the club's board confessed to the AGM that a stake builder in the mould of Malcolm Glazer could get a foothold in the club, but that it would be highly hostile to any such approach.
The Arsenal Supporters' Trust has been monitoring the club's situation and a delegate yesterday questioned the chairman Peter Hill-Wood over the Ofex-listed Gunners' vulnerability to a hostile takeover.
Fans' fears were raised by the open secret that ITV's 9.9% shareholding, built by Granada before it merged with Carlton to form ITV plc, is on the market. It is believed that the broadcaster, whose share price is plunging, would be a willing seller at £6,500 per share, valuing the stake at approximately £40m. Arsenal admit they could not prevent any such handover.
However the board, which controls around 67% of the club's equity, yesterday sought to reassure small investors that it would take steps to prevent a Glazer-style situation happening at Arsenal.
"We made a statement to Ofex when there were recent rumours of a takeover," said Hill-Wood. "We assured the Stock Exchange that we had not had an approach, we were not seeking an approach and we had absolutely no intention of selling to a foreign buyer."
