Tony Adams has called on the Football Association to make Arsene Wenger their new technical director.
The former Arsenal defender managed to go a whole interview without criticising Arsenal or Arsene Wenger.
In fact, in his interview with the Islington Gazette, he seemed rather complimentary of Wenger, suggesting that he should be the man to sort out English football.
Adams believes youth development in England stalls when players reach the age of 18 and feels that Arsene Wenger should replace current technical director, Dan Ashworth, to push English football forward.
“I saw England U18s play Brazil U18s,” Adams said. “Young English players hit a brick wall in terms of developing. The ages of 18 to 22 are vital in the progress and development of young players but so many in this country can’t progress.
“Our youngsters are not getting developed like the Brazilians are. Of the two youth teams I watched you’ll have five or six young Brazil players coming through – who will play in the Premier League one day – as opposed to maybe one from England.
“Those players need to develop somewhere else – but it’s not happening. And that affects the progress of the national team. Our U-18s are fringe players waiting for loans and they’re not getting the development they need. I like Dan but I think the FA should appoint Arsene Wenger as technical director.”
Wenger has been managing in England for 21 years and would surely have some interesting ideas on how to develop young English players I feel. Whether the FA would be willing to draw on those ideas, though, is another matter entirely.
The Arsenal manager’s plans for the future are currently unknown. All we really know is that he’s committed to managing the Gunners until 2019, and it won’t be until then that we find out what’s next for him.
Adams has lambasted Wenger in the past for the way he manages Arsenal. Despite this, he evidently has no problems with the French coach potentially taking charge of English football and overseeing the development of youth players.