A Tribute to Arsene

The man who was born to manage Arsenal? Arsene - even his name oozes Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger, had demonstrated his sharp eye for talent and more importantly the skill at nurturing the nature to full bloom. Signing a struggling Thierry Henry from the Juventus wing and immediately converting to a forward and now into the world's second best player was his earliest entree. Then, managing to pluck Patrick Vieira from AC Milan's clutches was key to laying the foundations to Arsenal's success, as the now French captain demonstrated down the years.

The coaxing of Fran Merida from Spanish juggernaut Barcelona shows the tantamount of Arsenal's pulling power of teenage prodigies these days. Merida, who immediately scored in his first appearance, has all but endorsed his new manager's eye for youthful talent. But was it really Arsenal, or more so Arsene that won over Merida's vote?

I believe the key is he has signed so many young unknown talent (listed below) and loaned them out or put them in the reserves for usually two years with an active intention of bringing them through to the first team eventually. This is never been the track record of any of the other top 4 English Clubs (barring Man Utd to an extent).

Today's 3-0 win over Dynamo Zagreb away, without the recovering Henry, wantaways Ashley Cole and Jose Reyes, the retired Dennis Bergkamp and suspended Jens Lehmann was truly class and justification of Wenger's belief in his young team.

Cesc Fabregas (also picked under the nostrils of Barca), Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Eboue, Matheu Flamini, Phillipe Senderos, Gael Clichy, Theo Walcott (ableit a hefty transfer fee), Kolo Toure, Jose Reyes, Alou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Sebastian Larsson, Justin Hoyte, Arturo Lupoli, Jeremie Aliadiere, Fabrice Muamba... the list goes on and on... Point is Wenger has more than a generation of youth at his disposal that could do well to surpass Fergies Fledglings, fulfill the potential of the Spice Boys and come close to the Butsby babes!

And flinch not but most of them could be at the Emirates for a better part of next 10 years. Here's to you Mssr Wenger!