Is "Project Youth" the answer?

There have been a lot of questions asked by fans over the past two months. Even more after the events in Baku. And the questions will continue to be asked over the course of a long, hopefully busy summer that lies ahead.

As Arsenal trudged off the pitch for the final time of the season, thousands of miles from home, the gap between the players and fans in the Olympic Stadium was perhaps symbolic of the growing division between the squad and supporters over the years.

This is not a "likeable" squad. The first team I came across was the team in between the double winning sides of '98 and '02, consisting of Adams, Bergkamp, Parlour and Vieira. The Invincibles of 2004 is the benchmark so many point towards, consisting of a mad German keeper, world class talents like Henry, Ljungberg and Pires, but also an academy graduate in Ashley Cole.

Even from more recent years, with the likes of Cesc, Jack, Aaron, Theo, Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla, you felt a love for the club, a connection between the fans and the squad. It is abonimoble that we are now letting our last remaining "Arsenal man" in Aaron Ramsey go for nothing, when in my opinion he should be given the club captaincy and the wages of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. I digress.

One of the largest criticisms of Unai Emery this year has been his lack of faith in young players. Only Matteo Guendouzi, and you could argue Ainsley Maitland-Niles, although I think this is more out of circumstance than plan, have been properly developed. The crop of young players beneath the first team is really exciting. The likes of the underused Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith-Rowe and the returning Reiss Nelson are just the tip of this exciting iceberg.

We had a glimpse of Joe Willock and Buyako Saka over the Christmas period. Medley, Amaechi and Deyan Illiev have also spent time around the first team. The time for these young players is now.

I get the feeling amongst fans that there is a realisation that this is going to take longer than planned to rebuild this mess. But I also feel that fans would be a lot happier and patient with the team if they felt there was a connection between them and the squad.

Getting rid of the old and stale, and freshening up the squad with young, fresh, local, ARSENAL made talent would be a very good start.

Chins up.
@joehurd16