SOFT KIDS GIVEN A ROCKET FROM PER
Academy boss Mertesacker vows to set ‘Generation Take’ players straight at Arsenal
PER MERTESACKER says today’s pampered young stars are too soft, have it too easy and are treated like cash cows by their parents.
The former Arsenal captain, who now runs the club’s academy, has vowed to dish out some tough love as he looks to find the next Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock or Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Mertesacker believes the new generation of players do not take criticism well because they are given too much too soon and fed a unrealistic dream by their parents.
The 34-year-old said: “That’s the new generation – take, take, take. The new world is all about giving them things. No, no, no. You need to challenge them
“Is this generation softer?
Yes. Definitely. I never had all these external factors telling me how good I am, so I was never distracted thinking I’m already the best.
“We can never get rid of the shoe deals they get at 13, which put them in a frame of, ‘I’ve never sold a ticket but I really deserve that contract’. Actually, what have you achieved? “I get the feeling that some parents really think about their son who can pay for their pension. It saddens me. I didn’t grow up like that.
“My dad sat next to me once negotiating a contract, saying, ‘No, no, this is too much’. He refused to take the money. I was angry at the time but he was sending me an important message.”
Mertesacker constantly had his talent questioned and suffered such bad growing pains in his teens that his father told him to quit because he would never make it.
But he went on to win five major trophies – including the World Cup – during a 15-year career with Hannover, Werder Bremen, Arsenal and Germany, so is perfectly positioned to set today’s kids straight.
He said: “Now I’m taking care of 180 kids who think they are the one per cent who can make it in professional football because the agent and the parents think they are.
“The ones who have an experience of the first team and are like, ‘I’ve got a contract now, what’s next? I’ll dribble a little bit. That’s it’. That’s not it. That’s a big challenge and I understand that.
“But I’m not here to please everyone. I hope Arsenal knew what they were appointing when they appointed me.
“I’ve seen lots of youngsters who were really good but couldn’t understand that real work starts when you enter the first team, when you have bigger competition.”
● Per Mertesacker’s autobiography, Big Friendly German, is available in bookshops, on Amazon and at www. decoubertin.co.uk/BFG. RRP £20.