Arsene Wenger has built a team around youthful players with boundless energy and amazing recovery abilities. His focus on speed over the years can be seen with the likes of Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott. There were exceptions, like Dennis Bergkamp and Gilberto Silva – not forgetting our favourite sons Pascal Cygan and Philippe Senderos – but most of the players could run 100 metres in sub-11 seconds.

The current squad has been stripped of oldies, with the departure of Berkamp (retirement), Henry and Freddie Ljungberg. Barring keepers Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia, the squad’s old timers are Gilberto at 31 and William Gallas, who is 30. After them, the next oldest outfield player is 27-year-old Tomas Rosicky.

Gilberto and Gallas have more World Cup winners’ medals than the whole team, but they are not guaranteed starting berths. At their age, they should be at the peak of their game and leading the team. However, Gilberto, captain of the Brazilian national side, has not even started most of Arsenal’s games in the Premier League this season due to the great form of Mathieu Flamini.

'With the increasing speed in the game and an emphasis on counter-attack, the starting age of a career in football has shifted gradually down.'


As Wenger stubbornly refuses to hand out longer contracts to players over 30, will Bergkamp be the only exception willing to sign on a yearly basis? Bear in mind that Bergkamp is a legend – what will lesser mortals think when they hit the big three-0?

With the increasing speed in the game and an emphasis on counter-attack, the starting age of a career in football has shifted gradually down. While Wayne Rooney was an emerging star at 18, Cesc Fabregas was declared a future captain of Arsenal at the tender age of 16 when he signed from Barcelona. Topping even Rooney and Fabregas, Benfica's Freddy Adu was designated as a future leader of American soccer when he was only 13!

I digress. With the next World Cup in mind, will Gilberto endure the painful bench treatment from Wenger any longer than this season? Is the future for Arsenal really just youthful exuberance?