Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has outlined his vision for the Gunners’ academy when he becomes the Head of Youth Development at the end of the campaign.
The German will retire from playing this summer to head up Arsenal’s academy. Speaking to Der Spiegel via ESPN, Mertesacker revealed he was already preparing for the role, but would try to balance his preparation with his playing responsibilities.
“I am prying on my new role and the people, on the huge machine of this academy. Some 70 employees, 150 to 200 youth players. I want to get to know them as soon as possible.
“I don’t want to start my job next year by saying that I will need a year to settle in. That would not be good enough.
“But I have also told my coach Arsene Wenger that in the first place I am still a player. If I realise that learning the ropes occupies too much of my time, I will reduce it.”
Mertesacker went on to criticise the current culture surrounding young players and plans to instil a strong sense of perspective into the youngsters at Arsenal.
“These days, there are only role models like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi with all their tricks. No young player would say that he’d take an old-school defender like myself as role model. You need to be cool, stylish and wear fancy boots.
“Young players these days soon only plan with football. We need to be more realistic again. Many only think about a career in football, and have no perspective off the pitch. Once they turn 15 it’s only about who has an agent, who has a sponsorship deal, who will play for the national team.
“I am not a product of a youth academy, and I’d dare to say I would not have made it in such a system. I was out for one year with growing problems. If you are out for a year today, you will never get back into the system. No chance.
“I had my first agent when I was 20, my first sponsorship deal after my first Germany match. I was never part of the football hype. But these days you just can’t prevent it.”
He went on to discuss the wider issue of money in football and how transfer fees and wages and increasing at an unsustainable rate.
“There’s more money in the market every year. States are also part of the financing now. It makes things complicated, also for us players.
“Paul Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United was worth €105 million last summer, that was way too expensive. But it would have been a steal this year. That’s just too fast.”
Mertesacker is still very much an active player at Arsenal, having started in the Carabao Cup game against Doncaster and in both Europa League matches so far. He could be needed in the Premier League against Watford on Saturday if Laurent Koscielny is not available.
He’ll call time on his player career in the summer, having made 213 appearances for Arsenal while winning 104 caps for Germany. From what I’ve seen, Mertesacker is a model professional and will hopefully bring discipline and success to Arsenal’s academy set-up.