Arsenal: Mikel Arteta now starting crucial juggling act

Mikel Arteta has seen his youth crop at Arsenal beefed up, and he’s going to have to excel at juggling to ensure that no one gets lost in the shuffle.

Arsenal have a massive crop of incredibly talented young players, all of whom are just brimming with possibility and excitement. Matteo Guendouzi, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson, Bukayo Saka and now Eddie Nketiah as well. They are all hoping to either break into or break back into the first team set up.

Right now, it’s no so tough. With no leftbacks healthy, Bukayo Saka can play there. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out with a suspension, Gabriel Martinelli can slide in on the left wing. That leaves Nketiah to be the striker sub if we need it and Reiss Nelson to be the winger sub if we need it.

It’s not going to be this easy soon. When Aubameyang gets back, when Sead Kolasinac and Kieran Tierney get back, Martinelli and Saka fall back into their usual substitute roles, where Nelson and Nketiah already are.

With Dani Ceballos back, Matteo Guendouzi falls into company as well. And this isn’t even getting Joe Willock in there, another player who needs time to develop.

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That means that if Mikel Arteta keeps up with the trend of giving veterans priority, he will have six youngsters on the bench, all of whom are either ready or very nearly ready to be first team players. Not all can be loaned out and at this point, few others will be. Likely no one.

How do you handle that many people? That many needy people. Guys that can’t just sit there and watch. Also guys that for all intents and purposes, deserve to be in there.

Try to tell me Martinelli doesn’t deserve to start. Or Saka. Nelson and Willock probably do too. And Nketiah just wants to prove that he isn’t far behind. And Guendouzi? He did start. For a whole year. And he did tremendous with it. So he can’t be feeling great about his diminished role, going from all to nothing.

I’m curious to see how Arteta makes it work. Ideally, you’d keep at least one of them in the starting XI. Of course I’m talking about Martinelli.

But we have to keep rotating. It will never be enough. Ever. But for Arteta, the task is keeping them all active and happy. Maybe some of that has to be relegated to training.