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Arsenal: The balance of depth and development
In the assembling of the Arsenal squad, Arsene Wenger must tread the line of depth and development. At no time will be that more important than this summer.
The assembly of a squad is a fascinating balancing act. Attack or defence. Young or experienced. Energetic or technical. Tall and slow or small and sharp. Not all these are necessarily mutually exclusive traits, but, certainly, there is an element of give-and-take in all of them. It is that fine line that Arsene Wenger must tread as he looks to build his Arsenal squad.
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Perhaps the most challenging, and arguably the most influential if done correctly, of those dichotomies to balance, is youth and experience, especially when it comes to the role of depth and development. Let me provide an explanation to explain.
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In the summer, as Calum Chambers returned from his loan spell and Rob Holding continued to build on an impressive first-season body of work, Wenger had a decision to make. With Per Mertesacker, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista already in the squad, he knew he could not dedicate the necessary playing time to both, if either of, Chambers and Holding to aid their progression.
He was faced with this very decision the year prior, deciding to loan out Chambers to give the young defender some regular minutes. But not this time. This time, Gabriel was sold and Mertesacker was demoted to a deep, reserve role, kept primarily for his leadership skills as club captain, with his retirement at the end of the year announced. Essentially, in 2016, Wenger decided that Chambers and Holding were not ready to provide the depth. A year later, he had deemed their development sufficient enough to believe that they could.
It is these type of questions that he faces all over the pitch almost every year. When Jack Wilshere first broke into the team. When Hector Bellerin was entrusted to backup Mathieu Debuchy, ultimately usurping him. When Emiliano Martinez was evaluated as not ready with David Ospina kept in the fold. And now, with three young players in particular, he must answer these same questions again.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah are pushing hard for regular inclusion in the first team. While their minutes have been restricted, especially the latter two, they are regular members of the bench. The problem is that Wenger clearly seems hesitant to trust them in the big games. When 3-0 up against Watford, he turned to Jack Wilshere, not Nelson, for instance, much to the youngster’s chagrin.
There are now growing suggestions that Wenger is prepared to loan out Nelson and Nketiah next season in the hope that he can find a more consistent and featured first-team role for the pair. I am not here to say that they should or shouldn’t be loaned out. I am not in a position to make a judgement on their readiness for Premier League football, especially at Arsenal’s level. But Wenger was willing to let Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez depart in the January with only two coming in the other way. And since that point, Nelson and Nketiah’s standing in the squad has risen. So why not continue to allow it to rise next season?
Similarly, Maitland-Niles, who is perhaps in a situation more akin to Chambers and Holding, is trying to establish himself in the starting XI. With many fans calling for investment to be made in the defensive-midfield and centre-half positions in the summer transfer window, are the likes of Maitland-Niles, Chambers and Holding not ready for more prominent roles in the team? Perhaps not. But there will be a point where push to comes to shove and the dive to entrust these young players to step up must be taken.
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That time may not be this summer. I do not know when it is. Only Wenger and the coaches could say so with any element of accuracy. Nevertheless, the decision on their roles within the squad needs to be made. The balance of depth and development must be tip-toed, not that that is easy by any sense of the imagination.