Gunners losing out on young Irish talent

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal must up their game to compete with Liverpool for the cream of Irish teenage talent.

Whereas once the Gunners was a magnet for aspiring Irish footballers like Anthony Stokes, Stephen Bradley and Graham Barrett, they’ve missed out on signing the recent crop of budding stars.

Liverpool have been the main beneficiary, using their financial muscle as well as the charm of manager Brendan Rodgers to mop up the gems.

The Londoners’ outgoing Academy director, Liam Brady, was especially interested in signing 18-year-olds Alex O’Hanlon and Jack Byrne, who opted for Liverpool and Manchester City respectively instead. The loss of Arsenal’s long-serving scout Eugene Magee to Celtic last year was a blow to their recruitment prospects.

“Does Ireland not produce the players any more? Maybe. But you send them to Liverpool,” was Wenger’s assertion when asked about the lack of Irish at his club.

“Maybe our scouting is not good enough any more in Ireland. If you don’t produce any more Liam Bradys, of course that is a problem. But I would rather say that we have to make a special effort to get players from Ireland again, because it looks like even for the youth teams we don’t have a lot.”