Ryan Babel is 20, so he would be another young cub, like Cesc, Robin, Gael Clichy and the rest of Arsene's wonderboys.
Babel, playing down the middle in a 4-3-3, was hardly seen in Holland's Under-21 game against Portugal last night.
The Dutch were big, strong, forceful lads, while Portugal were mostly smaller, nimbler and quicker, with Nani the liveliest of their attackers. Everton's Fernandes was playing in midfield.
A rush of blood by Portuguese keeper Ribero led to a penalty in 33 minutes, which Babel slotted, sending Ribeiro the worng way.
Holland hit the post just before the break but Portugal looked very agile and resourceful and their centre forward Almeida, a Pauleta lookalike, was quite promising. But a whiplash dribble by the electric Drentha, a left-footed Edgar Davids clone, set up the beefy Rigters to make it 2-0.
Portugal got one back with a fabulous free-kick over the wall from Veloso, their pony-tailed No.4 but the referee was a homer who gave them nothing. The ref immediately bottled another free-kick decision just outside the box, an obvious barge before the ball arrived. If you need a win in your second game, you don't wanna play the home team, especially if the ref is a homer.
Is Babel worth £6 million at today's prices?
Maybe.
Would he be as good as Overmars or Ljungberg?
No.
Would I be excited if he arrived at Arsenal?
Not really. But Arsene would improve Babel. How much he would improve him, and how quickly, nobody knows. not even the miracle-worker himself.
On last night's evidence, I'd sign Drenthe, not Babel.
Tonight (Thursday) England meet Italy, who lost their first game 1-0 to Serbia. Golden rule of tournaments : Don't lose your first game.
That game will tell us a lot about where English football is right now. It will tell us far more than that 3-0 win in Estonia, so I'm looking forward to it at 7.45pm. But we could be outclassed and killed by Pazzini, the Fiorentina striker who scored a hat-trick at Wembley in that 3-3 friendly a few weeks ago.
The Italians care far more about football than we do, so they have a more serious organisation behind their younger teams. We have the FA, which puts us 1-0 down before a ball is kicked.
On June 6, England won in Tallin and on June 7 the recalled David Beckham got all the headlines and on June 8 David Bentley told Stuart Pearce he was tired and dropped out of the Under-21 squad.
I reckon those two events are related. Bentley would not have been too tired to play in Tallin, that's for sure. He would not be too tired if the England senior team had a game in Holland tomorrow night.
Bentley dropping out reminded me of Alan Hudson and Colin Todd dropping out of the England Under-23 tour in 1972. The Under-23 Committee recommended that neither should appear for England again until August 1974. I was a big fan of both players and remember discussing it with Patsy, who had been my girlfriend five years previously, and saying that both Hudson and Todd should be in the senior England team, that they were the best two footballers in England right now, so why should they play with the kids? I didn't blame Hudson, particularly, but Patsy, who knew loads of footballers, said, "If I was his wife, I'd have made him go." A bossy girl, she would have done.
Aston Villa's promising right winger Agbonlahore has disappeared, so he has not been considered. Flaky footballers, who needs them ?
And you wonder why Arsene Wenger doesn't want to rely on English yobs? He doesn't trust young Englishmen to handle the fame, mega-money and media pressure. He doesn't want a gambler who gives up betting and then get another player to put his bets on for him. He doesn't want degenerates who drive while disqualified or go into the toilet of a pub in Rickmansworth and buy amphetamines. He wants athletes who turn up for training on time, people whose faces won't jump off a tabloid front page and start his day with a shock. So he would rather sign a reliable African who goes home and prays to Allah and takes football as seriously as his manager does. And I don't blame AW for that.
England drew their first game against the Czechs 0-0 after Leroy Lita missed a penalty in 88 minutes.
The teams were as follows:
ENGLAND (4-3-3): Carson (Liverpool); Hoyte (Arsenal), Cahill (Aston Villa), Onuoha (Manchester City), Baines (Wigan); Huddlestone (Tottenham), Reo-Coker (West Ham), Richardson (Manchester United); Milner (Newcastle), Nugent (Preston), Young (Aston Villa).
Subs used: Routledge (Tottenham) for Richardson, 56; Lita (Reading) for Milner, 63; Noble (West Ham) for Huddlestone, 81.
CZECH REPUBLIC (4-4-1-1): Zlamal; Kaufman, Hubnik, Kopic, Svec; Rajtoral, Husek, Jirsak, Pudil; Kolar; Kysela. Subs used: Fillo (for Kolar, 19); Kladrubsky (for Rajtoral, 72); Blazek (for Kysela, 79).
DAVID NUGENT is a brainy striker with an all-round game and I'm watching him closely. I gather Preston want £7 million for him and Everton might pay that. He's cheaper than Darren Bent at £17 millon and £72,000 a week.
A lot of clubs are looking at Onuaha, who isn't as famous as Micah Richards, but might be a more solid defender. Justin Hoyte is playing right back, which is Onuaha's normal position for Manchester City.
I read an exemplary piece on our Under-21 team. This article says a lot and doesn't waste a word.
PROBABLE ENGLAND (4-4-2): Carson; Hoyte, Taylor, Cahill, Baines; Milner, Reo-Coker, Huddlestone, Young; Lita, Nugent.
PROBABLE ITALY (4-1-4-1): Viviano; Raggi, Andreolli, Mantovani, Chiellini; Nocerino; Rosina, Aquilani, Montolivo, Palladino; Pazzini.
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