As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Another LONG TERM contract given to a pile of shite who had not even proved himself.No wonder he aint going nowhere
To be fair, long term thats probably sensible. Wont work out every time, but if the lad was just on the fringes of the squad then, he'll hardly have commanded a massive wage at all. Getting him to sign a (presumably) 5 year deal is farily sensible- he's not on much money but it means that if he suddenly does progress, he's not got a deal about to run out so his best option is to negotiate another deal with Arsenal (for much better money) because its either that or wait 2 or 3 years on shit money (relatively speaking) before being able to move to wherever wants him. So if he becomes good then having signed a 5 year deal at 18, you can tie him down to a proper deal at 20 taking him to his peak years at around 25.
If he doesnt become good enough for Arsenal but is good enough for a middle of the road PL/ good championship team, the fact he has a good few years left on his deal means you'll get a pretty good fee (more than enough to turn a good profit even accounting for his wages whilst coming through the ranks)
Sometimes (as appears to be the case here) it'll backfire and you're stuck with a lad who seems not to have much future about lower championship/ league 1 level but then the wages are still low so it wont cost too much before you let him go, and the wages will be low enough that other clubs might even be happy to loan him and pay the full amount, meaning that he costs you very little. There doesnt need to be many successes for this kind of policy to be well worth doing
That reminds me how is Roarie Deacon doing at Sunderland this year? I always thought he had a bit about him so was surprised to seem leave Arsenal when he did.
