Arsenal: English Exit Highlights Failure Of British Core

England crashed out of the European Championships on Monday night with a terrible loss to Iceland. The premature exit highlights the failure of Arsenal’s British core.

It was one of the worst nights of my young footballing life. Throughout my nearly 22 years of watching, playing and talking football, seeing England lose to Iceland on a murky Monday night in France was very truly the most depressing match I have ever had the misery of watching.

That, though, is all said and done, and as the fall out from such a disparaging performance sees Roy Hodgson offer his resignation, many players forced to stand up to intense criticism and the search for a new manager begin.

Such a fall out will take months and months to recover from, and there is significant impact on Arsenal.

Throughout Wenger’s tenure with the North London club, he has often been criticized for the lack of homegrown players in his squad. While such a critique is utterly unfounded (developing English talent isn’t Wenger’s job, he simply should be doing the best he can for Arsenal, with or without homegrown talent), the squad over the past few years hosted a core of young, British players, which brought a degree of excitement with it.

These players were all young, hungry and exciting, and many Arsenal fans were hopeful for the future with them in the team. However, such anticipation has since withered away with none of the players developing as expected.

The group of players I am referring to are Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Kieran Gibbs, Calum Chambers Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, among others. These players were all set to be regular first team players and many were excited to see the success that they could bring to the club.

Now, not one is considered a regular starter, and England’s recent failure is simply a reminder, a mirroring of Arsenal’s own misfortunes.

Many of these players have struggled due to injury issues or competition being brought in through the transfer window. Both are factors beyond their control. However, not one of these players has progressed in their game over the past few years, and that is a criminal failure on Arsenal’s part.

That is not to say that all hope is lost and that they will never develop into the once lauded players that was expected of them. Rather, their careers have stalled significantly so far, and Wenger will need to find a way to reinvigorate his young British core.