Arsene Wenger: These Arsenal stars can take the mantle from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez

Posted Sunday, April 23, 2017 by Express.co.uk

Arsene Wenger: These Arsenal stars can take the mantle from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez
Arsene Wenger has been hugely impressed with Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

AS Arsene Wenger prepares for a United Nations clash with Manchester City tomorrow afternoon, the Frenchman is looking to a couple of great Britons to win him a 21st consecutive place in Europe next season.

Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the 'local' lads he hopes will finish this season with the sort of bang that will not only rescue Arsenal's season but lead the club to future glories.

As it stands, Arsene Wenger's best bet for European football next season looks as if it could be by winning the FA Cup.

And while foreign 'imports' like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez stall over new deals, the Gunners boss is confident Messrs Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain, can help him do it.

After a string of disappointments, mainly because of injuries, Wenger is backing his Brits to deliver the goods now, and in the future.

He considers Ramsey - the Welsh international he first hailed as the new Frank Lampard - as "the best in the League" when it comes to high intensity football.

And he is so impressed with Oxlade-Chamberlain's recent performances that he wants the player they call The Ox to commit his future to Arsenal - "for TEN years," - no matter who the club's head coach is.

"It has been a very frustrating season for Aaron," he said. "Injuries, injuries, injuries, and more injuries. Not big ones, but every time niggling ones. And then when he came back - boom, a little calf problem; boom, a little hamstring.

"But now I hope he will have a strong end to the season because he is such an important player for me.

"At the start of the season you would have counted [Santi] Cazorla and Ramsey to be important players. You come to the end of the season, you have no Cazorla since October and Ramsey has played less than 10 games. That is unbelievable."

Wenger is confident that at 26 Ramsey is now at the right age for a midfielder and, more importantly, the man to step into Ozil's boots if the German opts to jump ship.

Then comes Chamberlain.

"He looks like he is on an upward curve," says Wenger. "He has always had little problems, but now he's getting stability and more freedom to play.

"He's a big talent, but he used to wonder if he could be as good as people want him to be. Now his mental level has adjusted with his football level."

Put the two of them together and the manager believes that because they are both 'home-grown' they represent the future of Arsenal Football Club.

"They have to take charge of the future of the club," he added. "They should lead and take responsibility to say 'Yes, that is how we want to behave, this is how we want to play, let's go together.

"A lot is said about MY future but MY future is more important in the value and spirit of what we have built in 20 years than my own person.

"These guys have to take charge of what we have built and the values of the club. We are a club that is admired for that. We have supporters all over the world because of that; the values that this club represents.

"It's not only for the trophies that we win that is important. It's also about the way you behave, the way you think.

"That is why leadership inside the club is so important."

Once again, however, he declined to say how long he will continue to be that leader!