Trialists Named As Arsenal Fly Out For The Ferroli Tournament

Arsenal’s Under 16’s have flown out to Italy this week to take place in the annual Ferroli Tournament, based in Atalanta. The competition is often used by Liam Brady and his coaching staff to hand run outs to trialists, and true to form, the Gunners have included two potential signings in this year’s squad.

Danish midfielder Lasse Vigen Christensen has been given permission by his club side Esbjerg FB to come for a second try out, while the impressive Philip Roberts, scorer of a brace for the Under 16’s at the weekend, has had his stay extended. One trialist from each year has been signed in recent seasons, with Sean McDermott and Jamie Edge all doing enough to earn scholarships.

Coach Steve Gatting is set to name a mixed team, including some of the new intake and a selection of prospects who are set to come to the fore in the coming months. These include Nigel Neita, James Campbell and the already hugely impressive Martin Angha.

Norwich City forward Roberts is already an Ireland Under 16 international and is rated highly at Carrow Road. Brady has been on the look out for another young striker for many months, and some solid performances in Italy may just be enough to see him seal a move to Arsenal. Classy midfielder Christensen has previously been on trial – he’ll get a second chance to build on a promising reputation gained in Denmark.

Young Guns will be keeping you updated on all the goings on in Atalanta, throughout the tournament.

73 thoughts on “Trialists Named As Arsenal Fly Out For The Ferroli Tournament

  • April 1, 2010 at 12:54 pm
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    J is the news about the kid from zaragosa true?

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    • April 1, 2010 at 1:19 pm
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      yep its true the spanish club has confirmed it.

  • April 1, 2010 at 1:07 pm
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    Yes it is true but he’s not a replacement for Cesc..

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    • April 1, 2010 at 1:21 pm
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      Sean, you’ve already been proven to be wrong so many times on transfers, I think it’s best you keep quiet.

    • April 1, 2010 at 1:22 pm
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      I have seen him play against real and Valencia and you can see that he stood out his passes were almost always inch perfect even though their striker made a mess of it most of the time.
      But he can’t replace Cesc he’s just not that good but I think he might be a replacement for Merida if he is leaving us next season.
      YG REALLY NEED YOUR HELP ANY NEWS ON MERIDA?

    • April 1, 2010 at 1:30 pm
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      and YG will Silva be included in the tournament he 16-17 isn’t he

    • April 2, 2010 at 2:32 pm
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      He played for spain u-20 and notched some impressive goals..emmm,about being like fabregas,we can’t get that ,to be honest.and it wont be fair to put such pressure on Ander.i love the kid already

  • April 1, 2010 at 1:17 pm
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    Cheers Sean

    Has anyone seen him play and knows if he’s any good or what of player he’s like?

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    • April 1, 2010 at 1:40 pm
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      He doesn’t confirm the bid though? he just says what I said, that there’s interest. It’s also “quoted from the Sun”. It’s best to wait for something more reliable.

  • April 1, 2010 at 1:24 pm
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    haha J

    i take its not for certain then!

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  • April 1, 2010 at 1:27 pm
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    I dont know a lot of players from the under 16’s just Ansah, Angha, Hajrovic, Edge and Wynter so if you could choose a handful of talented players in our youth ranks excluding the under 18 players who will that be ?
    anyone can answer this

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  • April 1, 2010 at 1:34 pm
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    YG still now news of Merida is there? I think its a lost cause now those damn Athletico have probably promised him regular first team football.
    HE could have really become a superstar with us he reminds me of Scholes with long range shooting ability and his poor tackling and the perfect passing.

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    • April 1, 2010 at 1:37 pm
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      Like always, I’ll update if I’ve got information. I said before, I think it will go right to the deadline.

    • April 1, 2010 at 1:41 pm
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      Thanks But what does your gut feeling tell you
      I think he can see the competition he will face if he stays with us for that midfield position and at athletico they really dont have a single good attacking midfielder just good wingers so he should slot in really nicely
      why can’t he just sign the new contract and then go to athletico on a loan like Sunu did and also Lansbury

  • April 1, 2010 at 1:47 pm
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    Did anyone else notice angha filming henry as he came on?

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  • April 1, 2010 at 1:56 pm
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    Sanders
    do you know who has been selected for this tournament? (like a list or something)
    and do we any history of signing players from other teams if they impress in this tournament?

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  • April 1, 2010 at 2:42 pm
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    What is the full squad that is going?

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  • April 1, 2010 at 6:18 pm
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    Forget about Hazar, he already been spotted by most of the big clubs in Europe. One of which is the biggest spender in football history: Real Madrid. Considering our current transfer policy, I think we should forget about getting him to the Emirates…

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    • April 1, 2010 at 6:20 pm
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      *Hazard

  • April 1, 2010 at 7:17 pm
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    Guys anyone seen Ander herrera play? Apparently hes a winger likes to take players on we really do lack helb type players

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  • April 1, 2010 at 7:39 pm
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    John, he isn’t a winger at all:D He is a bit like Merida and a bit like Fabregas. There are some videos of him on Youtube. I know you can’t judge a player by that, but he certainly doesn’t look like a winger when I watched those videos.

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  • April 1, 2010 at 9:39 pm
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    I am watching Angel di maria boy arsenal have missed out big time on him. What went wrong anyway?

    Di maria looks fantastic hes a proper inteligent winger hopefully pedro botelho can be as good.

    Any news on pedro botelho will he be in the first team next season?

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  • April 1, 2010 at 9:57 pm
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    I really do miss hleb we havent replaced him properly.

    Arshavin, rosicky, nasri are not really wide players. I just dont like playing central midfielders in wide positions. Arsenal really do need pace in wide positions.

    We need a proper left winger we havent had since Robert pires.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 1:25 am
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      Diego Capel from Sevilla? Must be buddies with Cesc who else do you like for that position? Who might be the best english “proper left winger”?

    • April 2, 2010 at 4:54 am
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      I don’t think there is a necessary to play a wide player in the wing. Bobby Pires himself is not really a wide player either but he perform better than any other winger in the Premiership during his time with us (apart from Giggs of course). IMHO it, the type of winger we need is really depends on what kind of system of play your team are playing with. In our case, our “old 4-4-2 formation” doesn’t require our winger to play further up in the left for most of the times. Unlike most of any other 4-4-2 fomation, the system like to keep at least one of our winger playing more centrally to act as the team’s play-maker. Their main job is to play through the left backs & the strikers into the opposition defense while occasionally trying to score some goals by cutting inside from the wing every time there is an opportunity to do so.
      As for our current formation, as much as you hate to see players with not enough pace playing in the RFW/LWF role (players like Nasri, Bendtner & Eduardo), I still don’t think we urgently need any additional winger at the moment. If they can stay fit, I think Rosicky, Vella, Arshavin & Wallcot can do the job just enough in that wide role of our front three.

    • April 2, 2010 at 6:52 am
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      * doesn’t require our winger to play further up in the left/right of the field for most of the times

  • April 2, 2010 at 6:26 am
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    If Arsene Wenger really wanted to buy Eden Hazard he would have done it in 2007 when he could have got him on the cheap, because along with our very own Henri Lansbury, Victor Moses and Bojan Krkic, they were the best young players on show, at the UEFA European U17 championships in 2007 IMO.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 6:47 am
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      Couldn’t agree more

  • April 2, 2010 at 10:54 am
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    we just couldn’t afford di maria. i think he went to benfica for abour 12m when he was about 19 years old, which we weren’t willing to pay.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 12:17 pm
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      That quote is about a year old.

    • April 2, 2010 at 3:04 pm
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      Amerigoon, no it isn’t they’re fresh from yesterday (admittedly he did say the same thing a year ago). Obviously with Real on the hunt and Zidane as their ambassador we have little chance, even if TV5 is putting in a good word

  • April 2, 2010 at 12:27 pm
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    Hazard isnt the type arsenal need. Hes another central ball playing playmaker.

    Wasnt it obvious against Barca we lacked players who can run with ball on the wings.

    We are not going to outpass Barcelona with song, diaby, fabregas they are kids compared to xavi, iniesta, ketia, yaya toure,

    Arsenal need to be more direct at times using wide players i am sick of arsenal trying to go through the middle and getting our full backs exposed.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm
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      Wrong. You obviously haven’t seen Hazard play much or at all. He’s very direct and plays almost always on the wings. Maybe FM has him as a CAM, but that’s not what he plays as for Lille. He and Gervinho, who I also like a lot, constantly switch wings and dribble right at defenders.

  • April 2, 2010 at 12:31 pm
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    Thats the most annoying thing we do we rely on our full backs bombing foward and then getting exposed time and time again.

    Wenger should give carlso vela, Theo walcott a go and just tell them to go past full backs and get crosses in. Change our play some times. Sagna and clichy cannot cross a ball for crying out loud.

    Kieran gibbs next season could replace clichy u know hes got a better end product. We do need a better right back i think arsenal should go for Van di wiel looks excellent

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    • April 2, 2010 at 3:06 pm
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      i think we’re fine out wide in general. if arsene is going to buy (and we all hope he is) it’s got to be down the spine of the team. GK, CB, CM, ST

      chamakh sorts the last options, for the other three I’d head to Juve (broke, prob not in CL next year) and see if we can’t tempt one, two or (i’m dreaming here) three of buffon, chiellini and melo

  • April 2, 2010 at 12:34 pm
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    hazard is a versatile player he can play on the wings or in the middle so will need him more than real madrid…

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    • April 2, 2010 at 1:20 pm
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      We have Jack Wilshere who can do that and will be bigger talent than Eden Hazard in the future, so why waste £15 Million when there is know need to mate.

    • April 2, 2010 at 2:25 pm
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      Kentpaul, maybe you should actually watch some Lille matches, before you can claim that Wilshere can do what Hazard can and will be a bigger talent than Hazard. I don’t know, and no one else does, knows who’ll be best 5 years from now, but Hazard is only 1 year older than Wilshere and already has 63 appearances for Lille. He was the Ligue 1 young player of the year last year and is a regular starter last year and this for a team that made it far into the Europa League and might qualify for Champions League this year.

      Besides being far more accomplished than Wilshere currently, they play very differently. Hazard has far more pace and is far more direct. Wilshere is much more of a Hleb-type player, dwelling on the ball a lot, but unlike Hleb, not afraid to shoot.

  • April 2, 2010 at 12:42 pm
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    it is VERY frustrating how Clichy and Sagna can’t cross the ball. They should be working on the crossing in training but they don’t seem to be getting any better….Gibbs will be pushing Clichy very hard for a starting place next season.

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  • April 2, 2010 at 12:45 pm
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    john, come on brother replace bac/gail???bac best right back in the prem during his first season and gail is still youngish and got things to learn like cutting out mistakes in his game.but in saying this i rate gibbs highly and they will battle for left bk if gails form is still bad after world cup.i think we got to stick it out with them.next season gail Thomas Johan sanga will be the back 4 and will dominate attacks for years to come.just gotta keep them fit!plus looks like some good prospects in def coming through the ranks.great site

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  • April 2, 2010 at 1:24 pm
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    i agree with whoever said arsenal needs another winger. Arsenal need to learn how to close down as team because looking at barca they all closed down as a team not just one player closing down, they all simultaniously went to close down each arsenal player. Diaby is very good runing with the ball from deep but he just doesn’t fit in with the arsenal passing.in the second half of matches diaby gets extremely slack with his passing and gives the ball away alot where as denilson’s passing is smooth and he doesn’t give away the ball. i think sagna needs to look up before he crosses because it seem like he just plays the ball in the centre. Hopefully they buy di maria as he seemed amazing in the liverpool match.

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  • April 2, 2010 at 1:29 pm
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    traore should play on the wing

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  • April 2, 2010 at 2:15 pm
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    J,

    What reserve players do you think are ready for first team right now to help/make a impact since we are down 3 players? Barazite-JET-Couqulien.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 10:58 pm
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      Wouldnt say Coq just yet mate. Dont get me wrong, he has huge potential and I think he will be great but i dont think hes ready yet. I agree on Barazite though, he could make an impact with his pace and skill.

  • April 2, 2010 at 2:33 pm
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    Kentpaul, Hazard is more of a pure winger than Wilshere. He is a bit faster than Jack. Jack is more of a Nasri type player. I think both Jack and Hazard can, and will be superstars at there respective postitions

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  • April 2, 2010 at 2:42 pm
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    Eden hazard is better than jack wilshere. I really like hazard but can he do it in the premiership in a wide position its very demanding.

    Wilshere is much better in the middle

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  • April 2, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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    Hows Pedro Botelho playing?

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  • April 2, 2010 at 2:47 pm
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    Well I think that Wilshere might be a better passer, from what I have seen. This is why wilshere will play in one of the two attacking midfield postitions. Like where Fabregas and Diaby play. I wouldn’t say Hazard is better just like that. Jack will figure it out even if he doesn’t do much for the rest of the season on loan at Bolton. I have confidence in that. I think he needs to start playing in the middle though. this could happen next year, or at the very end of this year. That disloyal cunt Coyle just has to trust him more. If he doesn’t, then that’s his loss and we’ll get him back and get the best ouot of him.

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  • April 2, 2010 at 4:03 pm
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    Wilshere will be a great playmaker he has great technique dribling passing vision and i hope arsene will bring hazard because he has all the qualities to be world class.

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  • April 2, 2010 at 4:52 pm
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    Jack has always reminded me of Joe Cole.

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    • April 3, 2010 at 4:09 am
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      item

  • April 2, 2010 at 6:42 pm
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    Hazard is just a magical player. Hes really like a messi. Wilshere cannot dribble like hazard he hasnt got the tricks or inteligence.

    Wilshere more of a creatvie passer hes more of a david silva. Nice touches, flicks, passes and sores goals.

    Hazard is just brilliant at running with the ball at pace he can go inside or outside two footed, got tricks as well pace and he can see a pass

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  • April 2, 2010 at 6:48 pm
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    I for one am ecstatic that if Gallas goes off to Roma in the summer, our very own Jack Wilshere would rightfully pick up the number 10 jersey.

    though I like Gallas and he’s played well for us, I am still excited by the prospect of having Big Man Djourou partner Vermaelen, as well as having some youth prospects step up to fill in on the bench. plus, how long do you think we are going to have Silvestre and Campbell if we’ve got youth in front of them? especially Silvestre, when Wenger would still rather play Song than him. that says something about the confidence le boss has in him.

    I still feel, as someone said, that we have a need for and should pursue a CB and a CDM. the dilemma is the youth we will be hindering in 1-2 years time. I think we can get away with not buying another CDM as long as our CB position is covered.

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    • April 3, 2010 at 4:52 am
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      Djourou has a great talent alright. Just take a look at him, he is fast, tall, strong. However, I don’t think he’s got a “CB brain”. I’m not saying he doesn’t have any, but at least not yet at the moment. His poor positioning & poor header are some of the obvious evidence. But he is still a young lad, I am sure someone like Campbell can help him sharpening his CB brain. If he failed to do so, we can still turn our hopes to Kyle Bartley.

  • April 2, 2010 at 9:14 pm
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    I feel that it is time for gallas to at least give up the number 10 shirt. 13 and 6 are still free. Gallas has been a great player, but he was never meant to wear the number 10. I remember I was so surprised and a bit dismayed when he got the number 10 shirt. Cesc didn’t want it and somebody had to wear it so i guess Wenger figured why not. I still think Gallas is valuable and I don’t think he will leave. At least that is what my gut is telling me. But what he should do is accomodate our youth and turn over the number 10 shirt. So many great attacking players have worn that shirt for us. I just hope we can find the rightful heir to the shirt worn by Bergkamp, Merson, Armstrong, James etc. I know I’ve missed a couple but you get the point. This has been something that has bothered me ever since Gallas got that number and i know a few fans who would agree with me. Time for the next number 10 to step up and be counted!!! :D

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  • April 2, 2010 at 10:25 pm
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    nr.10 should be handed to ramsey or wilshere.

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    • April 2, 2010 at 10:52 pm
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      Id love to see RVP in the ten.

  • April 2, 2010 at 10:58 pm
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    Yes I agree although I don’t think Ramsey will change his number actually. It really all depends on how much Wilshere impresses this year and next which, in turn ,will determine how much 1st team action he sees. If he is a larger part than he has been, he will eventually become our number 10. Probably in about 2 years. BUT if he makes as much of an impression as he did 2 years ago at the beginning of next year, then that squad number will be his next season. Has the Ferroli tournament started yet?? Someone already asked about how much we use this tournament for scouting and I’m kinda interested myself.

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  • April 3, 2010 at 10:42 am
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    I have no proof but I’m pretty sure Gallas will leave this season, but it won’t be Ramsey or Wilshere who will get the #10 jersey. They haven’t proven anything yet, well Ramsey has, but Chamakh or Herrera will probably acquire it first if they join Arsenal.

    I would love to see Wilshere or Ramsey as our #10 in the future though.

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  • April 3, 2010 at 10:51 am
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    I thought I was alone on this!! Gallas should never have been allowed to wear the 10 jersey, in fact I would have retired it with Bergkamp before letting him have it. Jack would be a worthy sucessor though.

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  • April 3, 2010 at 1:51 pm
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    Nexxus are you kidding?? lol I’ve seen so many people comment on how they don’t like Gallas wearing the number 10 shirt lol. Maybe not on here but on other sites. Trust me you aren’t alone!!

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  • April 3, 2010 at 4:59 pm
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    Phew… that was close!!

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  • April 3, 2010 at 5:18 pm
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    Gallas took the #10 shirt because then nobody would be stepping into Bergkamp’s unfillable shoes. It was a very good idea, give it to a defender and then there is no legend to live up to as the position is totally different. I hope Gallas will stay for at least one more season, he is a great defender and we need him in the squad but also it will give Wilshere time to mature into our next great #10.

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  • April 5, 2010 at 3:30 pm
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    hi j, so we ended up finishing 10th? do we assume then that our u16’s now are not as good as previous yrs? we won this 2 yrs ago – albeit with wilshere, but still only 1 player – yet here we are finishing 10th? doesn’t sound promising!!

    Reply
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