It’s been a long 22 years, but Arsenal are finally champions of England again.
It may not be gold this time, but Mikel Arteta won’t care. He has dragged the Gunners out of an era they should have forgotten. It was a departure from the days when the focus was on fans shouting abuse on TV and nightmarish beatings from the top six teams.
The Spaniard has achieved what many once believed was impossible, and his last great moment may yet lie ahead against Paris Saint-Germain.
When it comes to players who have been forced to endure endless anxiety about crossing the line, they have a lot to say against their critics.
“They don’t laugh at us anymore,” jubilant Bukayo Saka hit back at Arsenal’s doubters as they celebrated their first Premier League title in 22 years.
Players and staff gathered at their London Colney training base to see rivals Manchester City draw 1-1 with Bournemouth as the Gunners secured their 14th top-flight title, their first since 2004 and their 14th in total, with one game in hand.
City’s draw at the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday sparked wild scenes outside Arsenal’s training ground and the Emirates Stadium, with thousands of supporters gathering to celebrate the club’s success with fireworks and flares.
Much credit will be given to Andrea Berta, Arteta and Arsenal’s recruitment team, but an underrated part of the club’s rebuild has been Hale End’s academy. It has played a vital role and continues to produce some incredibly talented names.
Senderos praises Arsenal’s academy as ‘fantastic’
Filip Senderos spoke to Football FanCast in partnership with Spreadex Sports and praised the newly crowned champions.
The former Invincibles defender was particularly keen to praise Hale End’s academy.
“I like the fact that there are a lot of academy players in this Arsenal team.
“This shows that Arsenal have done a lot to develop players in their academy, not only to develop players for the Premier League, but also to develop players who play for Arsenal. This is an amazing achievement and shows that this work continues with the integration of very young players into the team.”
Hale End provided the foundation for Arsenal’s initial rebuild, producing the likes of Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, before producing the likes of Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, the former playing a key role in the final stages of this season.
Max Dauman continues to grow and the academy will continue to play a big role in the coming years, introducing more of the North London elite to the title-winning squad.
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