Faith in the Future

Now that Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the Gunners will be maintaining their faith in the remarkably talented youngsters who have brought them to the Carling Cup final, the football world awaits with bated breath Chelsea’s response.

If they actually have players of the calibre of Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue, Justin Hoyte, Johann Djourou, Philippe Senderos, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Jeremie Aliadiere, Gael Clichy and Armand Traore, players who have been brought to and developed by the club without the need for major financial investment, then clearly these players have been kept carefully under wraps for some considerable time.

And if they haven’t, Roman Abramovic in particular is perhaps entitled to question what has been done with the hundreds of millions he has poured into the club, apart from the recruitment of expensive performers on massive wages and the servicing of a formidable annual deficit which most recently stands at a staggering £80 million.

What it comes down to is this – the future of Arsenal will definitely be on display in Cardiff, but it is extremely doubtful whether Chelsea will be capable of summoning up anything more exciting than the present.

A present in which money seems to be everything, and youth hardly anything at all.