Arsenal: Bundesliga/German core to better British core?

Arsenal have sought out a Bundesliga and German core in recent transfer windows. But will it be more successful than that infamous British core of December 2012?

It was December 2012. Arsene Wenger, after seemingly veering away from homegrown players for almost all of his tenure, perusing his way through the French market that he understood to a far greater extent, was now building the future of Arsenal football club around a famed British core.

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Five British players all signed long-term contracts at the same time — Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson. When Wilshere leaves the club when his contract expires in less than a week, Ramsey will be the only one who remains. It has not progressed as Wenger foresaw.

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And now, as the club enters a new era, it seems as though they are building around a new core: A Bundesliga/German core. The latest signing to stem from Deutschland roots is goalkeeper Bernd Leno, a German who has played his whole club career in the Bundesliga. And in an interview after his signing, Leno spoke of the players that he already knows in the squad that he will join this summer:

"“I already know Musti and Mesut Ozil from the national team, plus Xhaka, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan from the Bundesliga <…> I’ve known Musti for about 10 or 11 years. We grew up together in the youth national teams, the under-17s through to the under-21s. It’s funny to see us together at Arsenal now!”"

That is a very clear core of German/Bundesliga players, and they actually stem right down the spine of the team — Leno; Mustafi; Xhaka; Ozil; Aubameyang. Add to that the anticipated signing of Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund in July, and it is clear to see that Arsenal are moulding themselves very much in the same manner as a Bundesliga team.

And given who is now in charge of their transfer work, former Dortmund Chief Scout Sven Mislintat, it is no surprise. The new Head of Recruitment was largely responsible for the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January, he is the one pushing for Sokratis, again returning to his former club, and has been scouting Leno for some time also.

German football and the Bundesliga is what Mislintat knows best. He is German himself, he has worked as an analyst or scout for Dortmund since 1998, and he has been a part of the Bundesliga scouting fabric for more than 20 years. He is simply building a core at Arsenal of the players that he knows best, the ones that have flourished in the market that he has the greatest understanding of.

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It does seem eerily similar of the British core of 2012. Like the French core of the late 90s and early 00s, the Gunners are now building around another nationality. German. Let’s hope that this one reflects the French and not the British.