Very rarely is Arsene Wenger pushed to make a young player a permanent fixture in his first team squad, before he believes the youngster to be completely ready.
In the 2008-09 pre-season, a very young Jack Wilshere impressed the watching media and former pros with a sparkling display during Arsenal’s annual Emirates Cup. Yet it has taken Wilshere two further years to properly convince Wenger that he is completely ready – mentally and physically- for the rigours of the Premier League.
Whereas other managers have been known to use the loan system to advertise young players to potential suitors, an indication that the player in question is not quite good enough, Wenger sees the concept as a vital step in the development of his squad. Very few of his youth set-up are deemed ready to walk straight into the Arsenal first team- regardless of talent.
For Sanchez Watt, being sent out on loan to Leeds United at the start of this season may have felt a bit of an anti-climax for the young striker- particularly having flirted with first team action at various points last season and indeed scoring on his first team debut.
Watt, who turns 20 in February, would have attracted a great deal of attention from the Championship’s established big players as a potential loan signing, however it was the newly promoted Leeds United with which the Arsenal starlet was finally linked during this summer’s transfer window, having briefly made an impression for the Whites when still in League One last season.
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If Wenger had wanted Watt to be nurtured in a winning environment, the Championship is a notoriously difficult league to predict. However, despite only being promoted in the summer, Leeds sit in the Championship’s play-off places.
For Watt, the translation from occasional appearance for one of the biggest teams in the country, to regular outings on a weekly basis further down the league pyramid has taken a little getting used to. As a goalscorer Simon Grayson will not have been overjoyed with his young striker’s performances so far- that he is without a goal in his 12 league and cup games to date suggests a player that is struggling a little to deal with the physicality of lower league football.
This is not to say that Arsenal’s newest young striker has been completely overawed since making his switch to Championship football. Watt sits joint top of Leeds’ assist charts and before a recent ankle injury had nailed down a starting berth at Elland Road, earning praise from Grayson for his technical ability and work rate- two key elements that Wenger looks for in his squad.
However, it is triumphing over this physical challenge that Wenger will look to more than simply the goals that Watt will score during his season long acquaintance with the Yorkshire club. If a number of his players have looked to have been out muscled and overpowered in key fixtures in the past, Wenger will be looking to develop players able to compete physically as well as technically.
If the Frenchman had seen something in Watt’s temperament that he believed would be detrimental to his long term development as an Arsenal player, he would not have been happy to see the youngster getting involved in early season off the ball incident with former Tottenham defender, Chris Gunter, receiving a yellow card in the process. Wenger will want a limit of displays of petulance whilst at Leeds before he considers bringing Watt back into first team consideration. That his loanee has been booked only once in ten subsequent appearances, suggests that the youngster is learning this fast.
Arsenal have named Watt in their list of eligible under 21 players for Premier League duty this season. The chances are that he will be allowed to see the current season out under the supervision of Grayson and Leeds United. However, if he can help maintain Leeds’ current run of decent form and gain promotion in May, do not be shocked to see Watt play a more prominent part at the Emirates next season.
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