TheIndependent:
"I believe what is important to keep the young players together is that at some stage I have stood up for them," Wenger said yesterday. "'I played you at 17, 18, 19 years of age and I know I took a gamble.' It is easier to take a player of 25 and put him in the team. You know what you are getting."
"If you put them in at 17 or 18, you have to stand up for them. You know you risk losing games while they are learning their job. Once you have produced them, you want to say, 'Okay, let's stay together and win together.'"
Arsene seems desperate to keep him!