Chuba Akpom On Arsenal’s NextGen Debut

In Arsenal’s first ever game in the U19 tournament the NextGen Series they took on Marseille in London at Underhill Stadium. The stands were filled with excited Arsenal-fans who got an early look at the future of the club for free. Among them in the stands was Arséne Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and even Arsenal legend Jens Lehmann.

There are already several very good match reports including this one which is the best I have found, so I won’t bother with writing a full match report. The short version is that Marseille were chanceless in a game Arsenal’s U19′s clearly dominated. With exciting players like Gnabry, Olsson, Yennaris and Bellerin in the starting line-up the Arsenal side eased past Marseille winning 3-0.

Many of the Arsenal players had big games, but one had an even bigger game; namely 16 year old Chuba Akpom who scored two of the goals and assisting the third. I was very fortunate to have booked a chat in advance with the exciting striker.

Chuba Akpom

First off, a very impressive game for you personally with 2 goals and 1 assist. What did you make of the game?

Akpom: It was a good game, we played good as a team, everyone dominated in their personal battles, good overall performance.

With Wenger watching from the stands, are you hopeful you’ve impressed him enough to play cup games for the first team this season?

Akpom:  I hope so, I think he’ll keep an eye on the NextGen games. I hope to be involved with the first team. This is the best club for youth development.

What do you make of the NextGen tournament in general?

Akpom: This is a great way to put the players in Europe together. It really tests you. Also it’s like a youth champions league. Gives us a taster of how it is for the senior players travelling to different countries and playing against the best in Europe.

And finally, what are your targets for the upcoming season, having only just moved up from the U18′s?

Akpom: My targets are to establish myself in the u21s and hopefully be involved with the first team.

You can follow Chuba Akpom on his Twitter. It’s going to be very exciting to follow the young striker this season, and on behalf of gooners everywhere I wish him the best of luck.

@GoonRambler

Freddie Ljungberg retires from football

He came, he scored in his first game against Manchester United, he kept scoring against Manchester United, now he’s an Arsenal legend. In between Freddie was the source of a lot of magical Arsenal-moments during his nine-year spell at the club. No one is likely to forget his fantastic goal against Chelsea in the FA Cup-final where he brushed off John Terry and brilliantly finished it in the top right corner. With two league titles and three FA Cups as well as being voted the 11th greatest Arsenal player of all time by the fans witness of how highly rated Freddie was at Arsenal.

Speaking to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet after announcing his retirement from professional football Freddie Ljungberg had this to say (translated):

On whether there were no offers for him from clubs
- No, there were quite a few offers to assess this summer. From three Premier League-clubs, a few clubs in America, China and Australia.

On the biggest moment of his career
- Football has given me an awful lot, but what I can bring up is the special feeling that existed at Arsenal. All the players in the team were top three in the world in their positions, but everyone were nice. We were a bunch of guys who had a great time. There was no prestige and when we won the league and cups everyone were going to be included in the pictures. We were like a family. When we won something and you felt that togetherness… That feeling I don’t think I will ever get to experience again.

On how he wants to be remembered
- Like a guy who always tried to be humble and always gave everything for the teams I’ve played for.

Now Freddie has already moved back to London where he will live and work. He clearly loves Arsenal as well as London. Once a gooner, always a gooner.

@GoonRambler

Linus Wahlquist on his trial week at Arsenal

Young exciting Swedish centre back has completed a trial week at Arsenal, where he took part in trainings with the U18′s as well as the reserves. I had a chat with the young defender ahead of his move for Fresh Football which you can read here. Since coming back from the trial week, which ended on Friday, I have also had a chat with him about his week in North London. This chat will be complemented by translated quotes from an interview conducted by SillySeason.

Speaking generally about his week at Arsenal Wahlquist state that “The week has been perfect, I have nothing to complain about. I’ve gotten some good training against very good players in Arsenal’s U18′s and reserves.” In the SillySeason-article he adds that he learned a lot during his week at Arsenal. Previously he has had trials at Benfica as well as Sunderland, and says that he thought he would end up at a similar club, but that Arsenal is an even bigger step which he rates even higher.

On the facilities at Arsenal Wahlquist was full of praise: “It was the best training facilities I have seen, everything you need to succeed is there.” He adds that “it’s not everyday that you get to eat in the same room as players like Wilshere, Van Persie, Podolski and Giroud“. In the same week he also managed to get a glimpse of Brazilian superstars such as Neymar and Thiago Silva while they were using the training facilities at London Colney.

When discussing his own performances during last week the young Swede appears pleased:  ”Things have gone well for me this week, I know I can do much better but you’re not always on top. They [Arsenal staff] have also sounded positive towards my week, so I hope they’re happy! It has also been nice to have Kristoffer Olsson with me all the time“. Wahlquist knows Olsson from their shared home club in Sweden, IFK Norrköping. When asked about who the most talented player he came across in our youth set-up his answer was obvious: “Kristoffer Olsson is really good“.

Now Wahlquist will have to await further comments from Arsenal on his trial week, and if satisfied they may invite him back for yet another trial spell or even offer him a youth contract. During his week at Arsenal Wahlquist was supposed to participate in a friendly game, but the team they were supposed to play could not make the game. Hopefully he will get his time to shine yet.

As I mentioned on my Twitter account a few weeks back two young exciting Swedes were scheduled for Arsenal trials, one of them being Wahlquist. The second one is expected to be announced soon and will travel this upcoming month.

@GoonRambler

Interview: Jordan Brown debuts for Arsenal U18′s

One of those young players in Arsenal’s academy who’s been really exciting for some time now took a big step forward in his progress today. Jordan Brown, the quick and clinical 15-year old striker, debuted for Arsenal’s U18′s today against Chelsea’s dito. Taking the step from the U16′s to the youth team is a big one, leaving only the Reserves between him and the first team. I reached him to ask a few questions after the game, and the answers I felt are best left uninterrupted. Therefore, here follows a post-game interview with Arsenal’s Jordan Brown on his debut for the U18′s and what lies ahead for the England youth international.

Congratulations on making your youth team debut! How do you think it went?

- Thank you. I thought done the simple things good like keeping the ball, not giving it away in silly areas, positive with my forward runs and looked to get in behind. My fitness wasn’t up to scratch but that’s easy to improve and it’s only pre-season so it’s a good start.

Looking ahead, what targets do you have for the upcoming season?

- My targets I would say at Arsenal is to score 50 this season, I said this when I wasn’t expecting to play youth team this season and only my own age, but considering I’ve been told I’ll be playing due to second years being pushed up, I say 30-40 would be a good margin. At international level I’m just looking to score and be a regular and get selected for the U17′s World Cup squad, that would be amazing.

Is there any particular area of your game you would like to improve?

- Heading definitely, but even so thats getting better. As a big striker that’s an asset I need but it’s getting better, also i was told I need to retain possession better when defenders are on top of me but I think that’s not a problem anymore.

What do you make of last season? How was it for you personally?

- Last season started terrible for me as this time last year i fractured my ankle and came back into the season early, I missed all the fitness in pre-season and every game in the season I was going down injured and coming off, suprisingly though that was my best scoring-spell as i scored something like 8 in 7 at the time, I think I started playing better after Christmas though as I was used to playing out of position on the wing and put up with me not playing striker game by game.

Do you get inspired by players around you like Kris Olsson who played with the first team, and Akpom who plays Boreham Wood on Saturday?

- Kris is a technical genius and is an inspiration to watch, I currently don’t train with him as I’m not at Colney just yet but I’ve been on tour with him and nobody could touch him. Chuba is a very similar player as they are both very technical, Chuba isn’t just a team mate to me but a friend so he guides me and tells me what I need to do to get on his level, he’s helped me add more to my game.

Where do you picture yourself in 10 years?

- In 10 years I’ll be pushing on 26 so I HOPE to be playing in a top 7 side in the Premier League if it doesn’t work out here. Happy where I am, which is Arsenal, but anything can happen in football and some of the fans need to realise that sometimes players do what’s best for their footballing careers and most of the time it’s not about the money.

Do you think there’s any chance of you featuring in the NextGen Series this season?

- Haha I’m not a negative person and would like to say I’m confident but humble, but I would say no on the players based on who qualifies for NextGen. There’s about 4 strikers older and ahead of me and normally when I play up years it tends I play on the wing and there’s a lot of wingers infront of me as well so I would say without the boys getting injured, I won’t get my chance this season

For any young fotball players that might be reading, what advise do you have for them to succeed as a footballer?

- I would say just believe in yourself, it might sound common but just dedicate yourself to the dream, make sacrifices as well and don’t fall out with the club you’re at due to an attitude problem, make sure you if you don’t make it it’s just on somebody’s opinion on you. Give it your all every training session and game, and most importantly outside of football stay away from the girls and all the rest of it

Finally I would just like to say good luck on your upcoming season and I have no doubt you’ll make a big impression with the youth team.

- Thanks, and I’ve got to play Chelsea 16s tomorrow as well so wish me luck, haha.

Think I speak for gooners worldwide when I say good luck indeed. You can tell Jordan Brown is for real. He is as ambitious as he is talented, and you can’t really have one without the other in football. Having followed the career of the young player since a very young age I’m sincerely hoping to see him in the Arsenal first team one day. Brown is one of those players you will be able to brag about seeing “all those years ago” in 10 years time.

Also follow Jordan Brown on Twitter.

Cheers for reading. Feel free to comment.

@GoonRambler

Young Swede Linus Wahlquist to trial with Arsenal

Following the unsuccessful trials of fellow Swedish youth players Niclas Eliasson and Viktor Nordin, young exciting talent Linus Wahlquist, 15, is set to travel to North London next week for a trail. Linus has previously trained with clubs such as AC Milan, Benfica and Sunderland. Wahlquist comes from the same Swedish club as Kris Olsson, who’s slowly becoming a familiar face among Arsenal fans.

Linus is a very talented centre back who has featured for Sweden’s U17′s on numerous occacions. As I revealed on Twitter about a week ago two Swedes were expected to trial with Arsenal in the near future, and the second one is set to be revealed soon as well. Am hoping to have more information on both players in the near future, so stay tuned.

@GoonRambler

Summary: Arsenal Supporters Trust – July 9th

I’ve grown accustom to writing the summaries of AST-meetings so I might as well keep up the tradition. So, for all of you who weren’t able to follow the meeting or think you may have missed something here’s a summary including the most interesting points as from the meeting as well as my thoughts.

The meeting started with showing the results of a survey to which 636 members had responded.

- 75% are not happy with how Kroenke runs the club
- 60% want to keep self-sustaning financial model
- 82% want Kroenke to ask Usmanov (R&W) to join the board 
- 72% want David Dein to be invited back to the club
- 77% want to keep Wenger as manager
- 1.5% are ‘highly satisfied’ with footballing performances
- 76% believe Champions League qualification is more important than winning League- or FA Cup.
- Dennis Bergkamp win vote for who to make a statue of next with 41%. David Rocastle was second with 14%
-  56% don’t think ticket prices give you good value for your money
- 54% think Peter Hill-Wood is not fit to be the chairman of Arsenal
- 77% think Wenger’s selections/tactics were average or poor last season
- 5% feel the board is in touch with the fans

In short; fans want Kroenke out and Usmanov + Dein in. Wenger to stay as manager, keep self-sustaining model and very few fans are completely satisfied with our performances on the pitch recently. Boards external communication with fans is poor. Usmanov issuing public letter to the board recently could have had an effect on the survey, but luckily the survey was conducted before last weeks happenings. Usmanov surely persuaded some fans he’s the man for the job, which has been visible on Twitter in the past week or so. Kroenke’s silence is proving to be a weakness, fans can’t get a read on the clubs owner. Surprising amount of support for Usmanov though most fans want to keep self-sustaining model. Does seem a bit hypocritical?

After the survey the meeting went on to disclose Arsenal’s financial results. Arsenal are planning for the worst as it is revealed that money is being saved in case Arsenal miss out on Champions League in the near future. Missing out on the Champions League would put Arsenal £40m on the minus side. The club breaks even and only surplus comes from selling players. Gazidis says Arsenal must hold out for 2 more years, because then we will earn more from tv rights as well as renew sponsorship deals. Arsenal will earn an estimated extra £70m in 2 years through tv and sponsorship. The AST claims that we have no debt issue, but that clearing our £200m debt for Emirates Stadium would actually cost us £300m. As @1Walid1 points out one of our biggest financial issues is paying too high wages for fringe players. Lowering their salaries would enable us to spend more on new contracts for our star players. Gazidis admits at the meeting that Arsenal are trying to solve this issue by restructuring the wages. Doing that would take a long time as you can’t simply lower certain player’s wages, but adapting it to future contracts.

AST will meet Gazidis on Friday to discuss the issue of Robin van Persie.

Thanks to @10akhil @DarrenArsenal1 @1Walid1 and @LeGrove for keeping gooners updated on the proceedings.

Cheers for reading,

@GoonRambler

June 6 Arsenal Supporters Trust meeting summary

Tonight’s AST meeting featuring Ivan Gazidis who answered questions from fans didn’t bring much new information. This summary is based on reports as well as tweets from the meeting. Kudos to @AshburtonGrove @AngryOfN5 @LeGrove @DarrenArsenal1 and @1Walid1.

The meeting started with a highlight video of the past season, and Ivan Gazidis proclaiming that ”there is an awful lot to be proud of at this football club”. Starting with kits, it has been confirmed that all Arsenal shirts will now be on two year cycles, meaning fans won’t have to buy new shirts each year. The new away shirt, which will be announced in July will not be blue, and that’s all the information given on that subject. Jack and Robin account for 75% of shirt + name purchases.

Arsenal confirmed to have deals happening in America, South Korea and Australia that will help the club financially. The ambition, Gazidis says, is to win trophies. Some fans question this as we manage to give players like Diaby contracts, but not regular starters and star players like Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott. About the past season Ivan talks about losing the creative pieces of the club in Cesc, Samir and Jack which made this season very tough for us. Still Ivan says: ”We’re ranked fifth in the UEFA rankings and that’s not easy to achieve.”

Gazidis explains that we are a self-sustained club fighting non-self-sustained clubs, but he seems to have great faith that the Financial Fair Play rule will work. ”Vast majority of clubs in EPL want a FFP or cost restraint system”. Football, Ivan says, is moving towards the Arsenal model, because the clubs want it themselves, not just Platini. We spend every pound we earn and believe in FFP, and “we don’t advocate pumping money into the club.” Ivan says Usmanov is not on the board since it would disturb ‘unity’ within the board. Strange comment since they haven’t even met with Usmanov.

On RvP: “I’m not going to answering it… I’m not going to talk about individual players.” As expected.

On transfers: Gazidis wants business done as early as possible, but makes no promises. Says we have learned from last seasons late transfers and defends Wenger’s and Arsenal’s secrecy surround tranfers. Tough questions are being put behind the scenes to Wenger, Gazidis claims. He also claims no amount of money could replace Cesc Fábregas since he’s world class. Apparently Ivan seems to think Cesc is the only world class midfielder in the world. Oh well…

On wage structures: Ivan says he has to be more efficient in spending wages at Arsenal, but so do lots of other football clubs. Says Arsenal are taking more risks with young players than others. Not sure it could be called risky, since we get young players on the cheap and sell them for profit. It’s a pretty fail safe business model, a business model which suggests financial gain comes before trophies. Still, Gazidis remains firm on the point that all the money the club makes goes back into the club.

Gazidis goes on to claim that a lot of work has been done behind the scenes with commercial partners. He says Manchester United have spent a lot of money setting up their commercial team and are now reaping the rewards.

On difficulties of securing away tickets: Gazidis says the club has 200,000 members and that we’re massively over subscribed when it comes to away tickets. Marketing executive Charles Allen says the club is under pressure when it comes to away tickets. No apparent solution to the problem though.

As Tim Payton tweeted: “Much of Ivan’s messaging is very long term. Wait for FFP. Wait for new commercial deals. Would like to see more drive and focus on the NOW.” Lots of fans are eager to see changes now, but it’s not happening. Gazidis is thinking long term when we’re just about avoiding crisis now. Gazidis talks a lot, but really says nothing.