Arteta claims Arsenal cannot replicate Barcelona academy due to restrictions
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Mikel Arteta believes it is “impossible” for Arsenal’s academy to produce as many top players as Barcelona’s famous La Masia setup owing to regulations imposed on English clubs. Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly have broken into Arsenal’s first team this season after coming through the academy and should feature against Brighton on Saturday. Arteta started his career at Barcelona and shared a dormitory with Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Victor Valdés at La Masia. But he suggested he had been frustrated in attempts to recreate the same environment at Arsenal because of certain rules, including restrictions on signing young players from overseas until they are 18.
![[Ethan Nwaneri in action for Arsenal against Brentford.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7d47c936d34c4febe0acf136d18cbae0cb55d6f5/0_237_5263_3157/master/5263.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“For example we lived in La Masia. To replicate that here is impossible. We cannot do it,” said Arteta. “It is the most unique environment I have seen in my life, the most competitive, the most inspiring and the most professional environment at any club or academy that I have seen that replicates a first-team environment at 14 or 15 years old. To do that with the capacity to recruit from all over Spain, or all over the world if you wanted at that time, that is very difficult to achieve.”.
Asked whether he would like to see the same thing at Arsenal, Arteta added: “Yes because we were 32 players there and I think 29 of them made it to the highest level. The six that shared a room with me were legends in the football world. That is unheard of. There is something special there, that is not a coincidence. And they have done it for decades now.”.
