Wenger To Send Arsenal Youngsters Out On Loan

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that he is ready to send some of the youngsters at the Emirates Stadium out on loan to gain first team experience. Due to the Gunners elimination from the Carling Cup at the hands of Championship side Burnley last week.

Wenger feels that players like Jay Simpson, Gavin Hoyte and Kieran Gibbs need a spell in the Championship, with the young Gunners having no real prospect of first team experience at Arsenal now that they are no longer in the Carling Cup.

However, Wenger has insisted that Jack Wilshere will not be amongst any players that are loaned out from the Premier League club due to the fact that the midfielder is only 16.

“Jay Simpson, Gavin Hoyte and Kieran Gibbs might go on loan,” Wenger told the club website.

“They need to play in the Championship for three or four months. Not Jack Wilshire though, he is only 16.”

Simpson and Gibbs, who are both 19 had spells on loan last season at Millwall and Norwich City respectively, with Simpson scooping the League 1 Player of the Year award, while impressing during his time with The Lions and was a crowd favourite at The Den.

Hoyte the younger brother of former Arsenal defender Justin, who signed for, Premiership rivals Middlesbrough in the summer has yet to spend any time away from the Emirates, but Wenger is keen for 18-year-old to spend some time on loan in the Championship.

However, Mexican International Carlos Vela, who has featured for Arsenal in the Premier League this season, is unlikely to go out on loan again after spending time on loan at Spanish clubs Celta Vigo, Salamanca and Osasuna due to not being granted a work permit, when the 19-year-old signed for the Gunners in 2005.

Former Barcelona youngster Fran Merida is another player unlikely to go out on loan, having spent four months at Real Sociedad last season, but has been on the fringes of the Arsenal first team this season.

Arsenal's Merida: Carling Cup Kids Making Wenger Doubt

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Arsenal youngster Fran Merida insists that he has no regrets about taking the same path as Cesc Fabregas in leaving Barcelona for the Premier League club.

Merida decided to leave the Nou Camp at the age of 16 to develop his football education under Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. 18-year-old Merida is tipped to have a great future at the Emirates Stadium and is part of the young Gunners Carling Cup side that have reached the quarter-finals this season after wins against Sheffield United and Wigan Athletic.

“I’m delighted to be here,” Merida told Marca.

“I arrived at the age of 16 and settled pretty well. My loan to Real Sociedad was a good experience and I feel like I’m improving day by day.”

Despite only having made one Premier League appearance for the North London club, Merida believes that the young Carling Cup side, which includes Jack Wilshere, Carlos Vela, Aaron Ramsey and himself would be good enough to compete in the Premiership.

Merida said: “I think we would. We are making Wenger doubt.

“We have been playing well in the Carling Cup, won the last game with Wigan playing good football. What we want to do is reach the top.

However, despite the comparisons with Spanish International Fabregas, Merida insists he will take it a step at a time in the hope of making it at the Emirates Stadium.

“Honestly, my plans are only short-term ones, like going to training tomorrow. What I want to do is have fun, improve and learn. And one day I want to succeed at Arsenal,” Merida added.

Merida is backing the Gunners to bounce back from the defeat to Aston Villa and has praised Wenger for the Frenchman’s management style, with the midfielder insisting the Premiership is not an easy league.

He said: “Every team experiences gaps during the season. No doubt the team will bounce back, as the players and the team are good enough to fight. The Premier League is not easy.

“Everybody has their opinion and can think whatever they want. Wenger has been at the club for ages and did great things. He brought one-touch football to The Premier League.

“The fans love him and I’m happy with him as well. He imposed his personality when he decided to play young players. Arsenal are the only team that play with them in the Carling Cup.

“I don’t regret having left at 16 even if leaving everything is very difficult. You have to take risks in your life. Anyway I am having a lot of fun.”

Arsenal's Wilshere Set For England Fast-Track?

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshire’s performances in the Carling Cup this season look like propelling the young Gunner into the England Under-21 squad that travels to Sweden next year for the European Championships.

16-year-old, Wilshere had been watched by an England scout in last months 6-0 drubbing of Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. England manager Fabio Capello along with his assistant Franco Baldini and Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce were all in attendance at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday to see the young starlet put in a man of the match performance against Wigan Athletic in the North London clubs 3-0 win, which put them through to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.

The attendance of all the main players in the England management set-up at the Emirates has heightened speculation that Wilshere, who has been hailed as the “New Gazza’ in some quarters is to be fast-tracked into the full International set-up and taken to the EURO’s with the Under-21’s next summer.

Wilshere has already been capped by England at Under-16 and Under-17, with the youngster only recently returning from a training camp in Tenerife for the Under-17 squad before his five star performance humbled the Latics on Tuesday.

Wilshere will not be able to sign his first professional contract until he turns 17 next January, but looks set for a glittering career in the Premier League and with England. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger compared Wilshere to Spanish International Cesc Fabregas after the win against Wigan, with the Frenchman nurturing Fabregas from a 16-year-old arriving from Barcelona five years ago into one of the best and most sought after midfielder’s in Europe that he is today.

Should Wilshere’s progression take a similar path to the one of Fabregas under the guidance of Wenger, then a regular starting place for both club and country is surely not to far off the horizon for the latest young talent to emerge from the Emirates conveyer belt.