Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger remains committed to his philosophy of nurturing young talent and is not contemplating retirement ahead of the new Premier League season – but has he been lobbing grenades in the direction of Manchester United?
In an interview with several national newspapers during the Gunners' tour of Asia, the Frenchman spoke of his club's values and insisted that he would continue "giving chances to young players and building from inside our club".
He went on to contrast that policy with Manchester United who once had a side built on home-grown players but have now "created huge financial resources and today there is no patience for them to continue to do what they did".
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According to Matt Hughes of The Times, Wenger "accused Manchester United of abandoning the club's tradition of youth development in pursuit of short-term success".
Others agree, although Nick Callow of The Guardian notes: "In Van Gaal's defence, and to a lesser extent his own, the Frenchman says it is harder to group together young English talent than it was when he succeeded Bruce Rioch at Highbury in 1996."
His comments show that "the purist in Wenger remains offended by money's correlation with success", says Jeremy Wilson in the Daily Telegraph. "It is perhaps both Wenger's great strength and weakness that, for him, football has always been about more than just winning. It is about winning in a certain way and, more than any moment in the past decade, you sense that he genuinely thinks that his way can again prevail."
During the interview, Wenger conceded that in previous seasons he had talked up Arsenal's chances of winning the Premier League when deep down he knew that they had no chance of doing so.
But there is genuine belief ahead of the coming season. "Where once he felt obliged endlessly to talk up the qualities of his young players in order to boost their belief, he wants now to ensure that the club’s quiet confidence is contained and repeatedly stresses that he thinks only that this definitely can rather than will be their year," says Wilson.
He may have extra support this season says Tim Rich of The Independent. "If they do regain the Premier League, the satisfaction will be felt beyond Arsenal’s natural constituency. Their decline as the cutting edge of English football can be dated precisely from when the one-time governor of a remote Siberian province, Roman Abramovich, decided west London was the ideal place to invest the money he had made there.
"And when the men from Abu Dhabi came to Manchester City, the eclipse was complete. It might be nice if for once an oligarch did not win the league."
