Top Youngsters bought by Arsene Wenger for Arsenal (Part 1)
If there is one team in the world that is obsessed with only buying youngsters, it’s Arsenal. It has been decades since Arsenal had signed a marquee name in any transfer window.
The practice at Arsenal is very simple, buy a talented youngster from anywhere around the world and nurture him into a world class talent with the hope that he will stay at the club and help in winning trophies but the sad part is that no player ever stays at any given club for over a certain period and that is one thing that Wenger fails to understand.
Over the years, Arsene Wenger has brought and nurtured some of the very best players from around the world but had only a handful of them staying at the helm of the club. Here is a list of some of the players that Arsenal bought as youngsters. The criterion for the list is that at the time of purchase the player was 21 years or younger and cost less than 5 million pounds.
Patrick Vieira – from Internazionale Milan in 1996
Vieira is perhaps the most influential Arsenal player in the Premier League era. The ex captain is a glaring testament to Wenger’s transfer market shrewdness. Wenger pulled off a master stroke when he plucked Vieira from almost obscurity as he signed the 20-year-old prodigy from the Milan giants for only a paltry sum of 3.5 million pounds.
Vieira was the inspirational captain of Arsenal that led the gunners to their maiden Premier League title at the expense of Manchester United. He was the captain that also led the gunners through that invincible campaign in 2003-04 when they went threw a whole season without losing a single game. Vieira’s feuds with Roy Keane became the spice of every Arsenal vs. United match. A pure master class in the midfield, that was never afraid of going into any tackle.
Vieira remains the last ever Arsenal Captain to have lifted a trophy, The FA Cup in 2005, a game that he won with his last kick while scoring from the penalty spot.
Nicolas Anelka - from Paris Saint-Germain in 1997
Over the years, Anelka has somewhat build a reputation of a journeyman but it was his transfer to Arsenal from Paris Saint Germain in 1997 that first brought the sublimely talented striker to the world attention.
Anelka didn’t stay at Highbury for too long but still the deal that landed him at the club would probably go down as one of the best pieces of transfer business by Arsene Wenger. Le Sulk was only 17, when Wenger paid a mere 500k pounds to PSG for the striker.
Anelka represented Arsenal in 40 matches and scored 9 times in his very first season for the gunners and also helped them land a Premier League and FA Cup double in 1998. He scored another 15 times the following season but was transferred to Real Madrid for 22.5 million pounds.
Kolo Toure - from ASEC Mimosas in 2002
This Ivory Coast International was an integral part of the 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ and played in a number of positions during his early days at the club. From right back to the centre of midfield, Toure made his mark in every position that he played in. He, finally, settled as a central defender but Toure was sold to Manchester City with the Citizens paying 14.5 million for a player that Arsenal had earlier bought for just 150k.
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