Recruitment in football is often overlooked and undervalued by clubs when it comes to putting resources towards the staff that make it happen, but it really will make or break a club.
It’s so easy to set yourself back multiple years by taking on average players on giant contracts as they become impossible to shift and it limits what you can do with new arrivals.
Arsenal’s recruitment really has been a case of hit or miss in recent years and the standouts this season have actually been the young players rather than the new arrivals.
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Goal have reported on some comments made by Tony Adams to Stadium Astro about the club’s situation, and it’s clear that he’s not a believer in Edu and the recruitment policy at the club, while Willian was the main target of his ire:
“Why have you brought him into the squad? If you have got him just to make up the numbers because he has got a bit of experience, where are you going with that?
“I have cried out about the recruitment on more than one occasion. Edu is very inexperienced and they were heavily reliant on agents to get players into the club. All of a sudden you have got Willian, Cedric, all the same agent.
“We have got so many kids coming through, don’t buy these players!”
It’s tough to get the balance right because you do need some experienced players in the team to help keep the kids on track, but there’s a general acceptance that Arsenal made a big mistake by signing Willian in the summer.
We’re seeing a few senior players depart Arsenal just now so it does suggest that there will be new arrivals in the summer, so it will be interesting to see if they are positive additions or if Arsenal are just allowing themselves to be run by agents who want to place their players at the club.
We don’t want old people