I hope new boss will give youth its head

To whoever replaces Wenger,

My youngest daughter was an accomplished rhythmic gymnast in her younger days, so much so that she represented South Africa in international competitions in Europe.

I remember when she started out in the sport. She obviously had potential but was as graceful as a baby giraffe (she was a baby herself) and I had serious doubts whether she would ever be successful. She just didn’t appear to have what it takes.

Her coach believed otherwise and pushed her – at times too hard – and I was filled with trepidation when she was entered into her first competition. She did okay and the coach pushed her some more before entering her into another and then another competition.

By the end of her first year in the sport, she had improved to the point where I no longer needed to look away every time she went through a routine. Then she started placing in competitions and actually began winning.

Her haul of gold medals is impressive and she quit the sport in her Grade 11 year as national champion, having decided to concentrate on getting a good matric.

The point here is: what is the correct age to throw someone into

Guy Hawthorne

a competitive environment?

As I settled down with an adult beverage to watch Arsenal take on Manchester United at Old Trafford at the weekend, I feared the worst. With the focus on the second leg of the Europa Cup semifinals, Arsene Wenger had opted to field a team containing a number of inexperienced youngsters.

He gave young Greek centre- back Konstantinos Mavropanos his debut and also included midfielders Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson in his starting 11. I have to admit I envisaged an Arsenal thrashing.

The Arsenal youngsters were among the more impressive members of the Gunners team on the day. They slotted right in, looking as if they had been playing Premier League football for years.

Very late in the match, Wenger threw on another of his young stars in Joe Willock and although he had little time to make an impression, there was one crunching tackle that even I felt all those thousands of kilometres away.

Wenger has nurtured some young players and turned them into potential stars of the future and I sincerely hope you will persist with what is obviously an excellent youth academy.

It does surprise me how often young players are given a chance and almost immediately establish themselves in a team. It happened with Wayne Rooney at Everton and with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United and, given the opportunity, I see at least one of the current crop of Arsenal youngsters going on to big things.

Like my daughter proved me wrong when I believed she wasn’t ready, all these kids are looking for is an opportunity to prove their worth. Please give them that…