Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has heaped praise on Hale End academy graduates Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
Wilshere has been training with the rest of the Gunners first-team squad in recent times and he has admitted that the England internationals have left a huge impression on him.
Saka won the club's player of the year award for his stellar performances during the 2020/21 campaign whilst Smith Rowe has enjoyed a fine start to this season, notching nine goals and two assists in just 17 starts for Mikel Arteta's side.
Now, the 30-year-old has lauded the young duo for their consistency, claiming that their decision making is one of their greatest assets.
"The obvious ones, who everyone knows about are Bukayo and Emile," Wilshere told Arsenal Media. "I think you’ve just got to look at the level that they are setting.
"The consistency that they’re putting in every week, their performances and they’ve got a manager as well who trusts them and I think if you’re a young player at Arsenal coming through the academy now, you should look at that and think, ‘Well, if I’m good enough, I’m going to get a chance, no matter how old I am.’
"Yes, you’ve got to work hard and prove yourself, but with a manager who believes in youth and wants to build a young, hungry team, so they’ve all got a chance.
"I mentioned before their consistency levels which is sometimes rare for a young player, a lot of time you see a young player come in, have a good game, three or four good games, maybe one or two bad games, but with Emile and Saka, it seems to be they’re doing it week in, week out, they’re making the right decisions all the time."
However, it is another Arsenal youngster that Wilshere thinks will go right to the top in the form of Brazilian attacker Gabriel Martinelli.
Martinelli has bagged four goals and provided a further two assists in just ten Premier League starts so far this term, earning himself the Premier League's player of the month award for December.
The former Bournemouth playmaker added: "But the one who I really like and think he’s going to be top, is Martinelli.
"I think what the manager has done with him has been genius as well.
"When I first went there he was training, coming on, not playing much, but training really well and I was thinking, ‘He’s going to get a chance here' and he eventually got his chance and he’s been brilliant.
"He was the Player of the Month and he’s been brilliant and he trains like that every day as well."
