LONDON // Over the past decade or so, Arsene Wenger has built Arsenal's success on foreign talent, but this season home-grown prospects have been given their chance - none more so than Jack Wilshere. The England midfielder, 18, who made his seventh appearance of the season in Tuesday night's 4-1 extra-time away win over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, hopes he can be at the vanguard of a new wave of English talent at Arsenal.
"Like any young player I just want a chance to play and I have got that this season," Wilshere said. "I'm proud that so many young English players have got this far. We've got a mixed squad but it's great to see more English players coming through. "It's good for all of us in the team and it keeps the spirit up." It is not just big-name foreign players such as Theirry Henry, and Patrick Vieira who have been part of Wenger's Arsenal success.
The French manager has also bolstered the club's youth academy with talent from around the globe - Barcelona-born Cesc Fabregas being the most spectacular example of one of the club's "home-grown" overseas players. Wenger though has always insisted that his policy on transfers and young players has never been about nationality, but finding the right type of talent best suited to playing the Arsenal way.
But one criticism of that ideology, at least from some parts, is that English-born graduates of the youth system have been sparse - Ashley Cole, now of Chelsea, the most obvious exception over the past decade. And Theo Walcott is a rare example of Wenger buying a young English player as he did when signing him from Southampton four-and-a-half years ago. But key figures in the Arsenal line-up at White Hart Lane suggest that the tide is turning. Wilshere, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Bolton Wanderers, produced a wonderful display in midfield.
The England international is predominantly left footed and his superb control, balance and astute ability to pick passes will remind older Arsenal fans of the way Liam Brady and Graham Rix - who both rose from the youth team in the 1970s - used to play. And Wilshere believes he will be followed into the Arsenal first XI by English talent, saying: "There are more even younger English players too - Benik Afobe [a 17-year-old striker], Chuks Aneke [a box-to-box midfielder, also 17]. People like that."
Indeed, London-born academy graduates Henri Lansbury, who opened the scoring, and Kieran Gibbs, the left-back, who had to be taken off injured, both produced stellar performances against Spurs. Arsenal confirmed yesterday that Gibbs should only be out of first-team action "for the short term" after scans revealed he had not suffered a fracture to his left foot. Although Walcott - something of a veteran at 21 - has yet to truly establish himself despite his star status and England experience, Wilshere cites the striker-cum-winger as an inspiration.
"He helps a lot," Wilshere said. "Maybe I am following the same path as him so it's helpful to have him around. I want to do what Theo has done really, he's now a proper member of the first XI really and that's what I want to be." Wenger is clearly a big fan of Wilshere who was called up the senior England squad at the start of the season and won his first cap when he came on as a substitute in a friendly against Hungary. "Wilshere was outstanding," said Wenger after the win at White Hart Lane. @Email:sports@thenational.ae
Carlos Vela, Arsenal's Mexican striker, and Efrain Juarez, who plays for the Scottish club Glasgow Celtic, have been handed six-month bans by their national federation and 11 other players have been fined for allegedly throwing a party at a team hotel following a friendly against Colombia this month. The sanctions were announced by Nestor de la Torre, the national team director, who told a press conference that the players had violated four rules from the federation's code of conduct. The 11 players to receive fines of 50,000 pesos (Dh14,500) include Tottenham Hotspur's Giovani Dos Santos, Javier Hernandez of Manchester United and Pablo Barrera from West Ham United.