Unearthing new gems

Arsène Wenger, coming up on his 19th anniversary as manager of Arsenal, is now in his 52nd year in professional soccer. He has probably heard more ridiculous tales about which players he needs to buy than most of us have had hot suppers to eat.

But the philosophical Wenger likes nothing more than to develop a player. So far this off season he has spent $17 million for a world-class goalkeeper — and a quarter of that on recruiting 11 embryonic starlets that he hopes to groom into stars one day.

Wenger is now well into the latter stages of coaching, yet he still comes alive whenever he sees a genuine prospect blossom on his team. The other day, he positively glowed in front of a nearly full stadium during the Emirates Cup, Arsenal’s annual preseason competition.

First, Arsenal pounded Lyon 6-0 and two teenagers — Alex Iwobi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide — stood out among the men on the field. Iwobi, who turned 19 in May, is the nephew of Jay-Jay Okocha, a mellifluous, free-spirited Nigerian whose long career took him to clubs in Germany, Turkey, France, Qatar, England and Nigeria before he retired in 2011. Iwobi showed traces of his uncle’s self-confidence, augmented by dribbling skills that he might have learned watching Ronaldo.

Reine-Adelaide, however, might be even more special. Just 17, but with a developed physique, the young Frenchman had a cameo against Lyon, then started in the 1-0 victory over Wolfsburg , the runner-up in the German Bundesliga last season. Reine-Adelaide was hypnotic, and Wenger could scarcely conceal the joy in seeing him not just compete with, but sometimes mesmerise experienced, top-notch opponents.

There was a moment when Reine-Adelaide took the ball ever so close to Kevin De Bruyne, then teased him by putting his foot on the ball and dragging it surreptitiously away before gliding free. De Bruyne was arguably the outstanding player in the Bundesliga last season, and he is rumored to be a $70 million target for Manchester City.

Reine-Adelaide, who later switched positions and set up the game-winning goal by Theo Walcott, was perhaps not even the main target in the deal that took him from France to England in late May. Arsenal was intent on snapping up the 16-year-old striker Yassin Fortune before other teams could, including Manchester United. Fortune and Reine-Adelaide came up together through the academy of the French club Lens, and Arsenal bought both in a deal that could cost as much as $5 million — though some may say one day that the deal cost only $5 million, particularly if Fortune hits his targets.

Wenger is French and knows that potential is there, waiting to be found in his homeland. Reine-Adelaide comes from the Parisian suburbs, just like Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer, Thierry Henry. Wenger had spectacular success in converting Henry from a left winger to a centre-forward, and he showed his knowledge again when he plucked Cesc Fàbregas out of Barcelona and threw him straight into the Premier League as a 17-year-old playmaker. Wenger has shown that if the talent is ripe, he will not hesitate to use it.

But Arsenal is rebuilding again after a relatively fallow decade when the need to pay for a new stadium meant they sometimes had to sell its star players. But Arsenal has bought Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sánchez in consecutive off-seasons, and with plenty of options on the wings and in the midfield, the new talents may have to be patient for first-team action.

Listen, however, to Wenger’s reaction: “I don’t remember how I played at 17,” the manager said, “but I didn’t play like that!”

He described Reine-Adelaide as something special.
“He needs to work with us for a year,” Wenger added. “He needs to be in and out, to play with the under-21’s and develop. There’s fantastic potential there, and he will stay with us, not go out on loan to anyone.”

With Wenger, what often matters more is not the words, but the look in his eyes when he says them. The patience to build while others rush to buy is perceived, by some, as Wenger’s strength. Others view that as a weakness, an unwillingness to spend the club’s money.

One week ago, Philip Harris, a member of Arsenal’s board, told The Daily Mail that the manager had 200 million pounds (about $310 million) in the bank to spend. Harris is a rich, influential businessman at a club with two dominant shareholders: Stan Kroenke, who holds sway among Arsenal’s directors, and Alisher Usmanov, who is not on the board despite controlling 30 percent of the shares.

Kroenke and Usmanov don’t always get along, but both agree that Wenger is the master when it comes to soccer. When Wenger was asked by journalists whether it was helpful that a director spoke of money in the bank and if he wanted a proven striker (presumed by some to be Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema), Wenger responded: “Helpful or not, it doesn’t matter.”

Wenger downplayed Harris’s comments. “He has gone a bit overboard because that’s not true. We’re in a position where we have a strong squad, but if an opportunity turns up, we’ll still do something. The transfer market is not closed.”

Wenger concluded, “We have the stability that gives you strength.”
Satisfying the players he already has and giving opportunities to those he is developing might be less of a gamble for Wenger than trying to find a star to fit in a stable locker room.