Often ridiculed for his obsession with young footballers, Arsene Wenger has tweaked his transfer model in recent years to create a mixture of both youth and experience. Yet his handling of the former has never been so lamentable.
Whether for good or bad, Wenger utterly adores the idea of an enthusiastic youngster showcasing his ability on the big stage. But there is a pressing issue embroiled within that: does he know when to stop? Or when to give them a break? It is always refreshing to see a manager utilise youth and integrate them heavily into the squad but, when an 18-year-old is hitting 40 appearances over four competitions in one season, that is when the excess becomes all too evident and dangerous.
Injuries are a common malignant theme in most of Arsenal’s youngsters since 2009 onwards, but they cannot all be injury prone, and the medical team is not always at fault for their care of each individual case. Wenger’s regular utilisation of certain young players has led to the stagnation, regression and unfulfilled potential that their careers are currently plagued by. The three names in case: Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs. Whether you hold the ability of these players highly or not, there is no debating that they once showed extreme potential that has not been replicated due to the stop-start nature of their careers. Wenger’s devotion is admirable, but these players have suffered from extreme burnout and it has become a mere waiting game every passing season until news is released on yet another injury.
If one is to take a quick glance at Serge Gnabry, for example, the issue is quite glaring: one season played, three injuries. 198 days spent injured, accumulatively, and 22 competitive games missed. At the age of 18, he was already being stretched across four competitions including the UEFA Champions League – all while still featuring for the youth echelons of the club in both the U21 Premier League and UEFA Youth League. That is just one season of an Arsenal youngster in microcosm. If expanded on through the prism of the aforementioned players, then the numbers become even more concerning. However, this is not to say that Gnabry has been burnt out – rather, this is how it all starts.
Wilshere is the candidate often vilified for picking up injuries, which is weird because I doubt footballers enjoy being sidelined and wasting away. But the burnout argument only strengthens when his numbers are analysed: he made 107 appearances before the age of 22, has been injured on 12 separate occasions and missed 199 competitive games – more or less three full seasons. 703 days of his life have been spent harbouring injury. He is injury prone because of the physical strain beset upon him ever since the age of 17. Once his talent had been gauged at a competitive level (on loan at Bolton), Wenger sought to exploit it. At the age of 19, Wilshere had made 49 appearances in the 2010/11 season. After that, his big injury came and sidelined him for an entire season. Yet, the season of his return, he was treated with little caution and thrown back in for another titanic 36 appearances.
The argument can be made that anyone as supremely gifted as Wilshere must be involved regularly, but a balance should have been struck a while ago. It would have, unequivocally, prevented most of his niggling issues. Now, he plays with a visible hand brake – every burst of energy is almost halted when collision is about to be met with an opposition player, every fall to the ground is paired with a shriek and grab of the ankle. It has almost stripped him of his natural footballing quirks, turns and traits, all of which is extremely sad. When he plays, his unique style aids the team regularly and adds a variable attacking motion to the side. Yet that ability is cut short, made to regress and decline, when an injury inevitably strikes. A dispiriting thought is that, one day, he may lament never achieving half of what he could have if not for burnout ultimately leading to chronic injuries. One of his chronic injuries, which he has registered four times, is the malleolar, which stems from heavy impact and intense physical strain. No surprise there.
Next up is Chamberlain who, similarly to Wilshere, was given the task of featuring in all four competitions almost instantaneously after arriving from Southampton. But his career is, perhaps, more salvageable than the midfielder’s, mainly because there is strong competition in wide areas. Wenger can afford to bench and rotate him, but has the damage already been inflicted?
The Ox registered his first injury in 2012 and has spent 359 days harbouring injuries and missing 64 competitive Arsenal games as a product of that. If 28 appearances wasn’t enough for an 18-year-old jumping up from League One to the Champions League, then 34 in the following season was the premature nail in his coffin. Chamberlain, like Wilshere, broke the 100-appearance mark before the age of 22. Ironically, both struggle with the same issue: repetitive injury types. Of his eight injuries since joining Arsenal, four have been knee and groin strains. The former happens by taking the knee “through a greater range of motion than it can tolerate.” These players’ bodies were still developing and growing, so therefore repetitive strain can stick easier. Playing them extensively with little rest will have stronger consequences than doing so with a grown man. Enthusiasm often masks issues regarding stamina, and that seems to be a detail that Wenger tends to overlook with his younger players.
Lastly, Kieran Gibbs – undoubtedly the least talented of the three, but still one of the very few products to make the jump from academy to first-team and cement a regular spot in the side. Although his injuries have lessened due to a considerable decline in game time, he still suffered massively when either competition was scarce or form was improving. Coincidentally, he also suffered early on from the same malleolar injury as Wilshere – the pattern of this injury in Arsenal’s overexposed young players does not take an expert to notice. It is a clear sign of fatigue and physical strain that the body can no longer cope with. Since that injury (2010), Gibbs has suffered 9 more leading to 95 competitive games missed. He also broke the 200-appearance mark before the age of 22.
Gibbs suffers more from short-term injuries, which means he is a more evident victim of burnout at a young age. His body cannot cope with the physical rigours of playing twice a week, because it already exhausted that ability early on. But even now that there is healthy competition for him, he has stagnated greatly to the point where very few actually want him to start regularly.
This is not intended as a hate piece toward Wenger’s management, rather an analysis of why these promising players tend to struggle heavily with injuries so early on in their careers. It is understandable why they feature often: energetic, hungry, enthusiastic and gifted, but a balance needs to be struck early on. The damage made is near irreparable and the biggest downside of it all is that it weakens the squad and leaves uncertainty splurged all over the pitch.
One can only hope that, with a stronger level of competition and numbers now available, Wenger can avoid making the same mistake with Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers.
