Identity: Arsenal

In Arteta's new blood, how much of Arsène remains?

Arsène Wenger built a cathedral of youth. From Fàbregas to Walcott to Ramsey to Saka, young talent has been Arsenal’s most defining foundation - through hell and high water. But as the club moves into a new era, do any of Wenger’s ideals remain?

In a colossal epic covering 25 years, writer Jake W. Fox chronicles the club of his heart through a profound personal essay — charting the rise, fall and reconstruction of Arsenal’s famous Identity.

I own four Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal shirts. In my pre-teen years, Cesc encapsulated the spirit of my favourite club, and I worshipped him as a paragon of pure football – although I’m not sure at 10 I would’ve known how to articulate it.

As I’ve grown older, as my fandom has changed and my worship of Fàbregas twisted into bitter loathing, I’ve understood his importance beyond my own perspective. Particularly, I’ve seen him through the eyes of the man who introduced him to the world stage at 16 years, 5 months, and 24 days old.

It's not original to note that, following the Invincibles, Arsenal Football Club became Arsène Wenger. Through cultural overhaul and once-in-a-century success, the lines between man and institution blurred. The club bought into Wenger as its heart, mind, and soul. He became the father of the continental crew at Highbury and the progenitor of the Emirates. The symbiosis was more than material, it became symbolic, metaphorical - even the names mirrored, like poetry.

A poetry like that runs through every football club on earth. At Arsenal, it was evident in Fàbregas’ debut and the idol he became. You could see it when Jack Wilshere danced between Xavi and Iniesta and Busquets, history’s greatest midfield, as a boy. It sings in every net that ripples beneath the force of Bukayo Saka’s left boot. In the boardroom they might call it strategy, vision, planning. To us, it’s Identity.

A few of my Fàbregas shirts escaped the bonfire. I want to revisit them now, to ask whether the Identity stitched into that fabric is the same that represents N5 today. Arteta’s Arsenal, like Wenger’s post-Cesc revolution, has youth at its heart. Cesc, Martin. Theo, Bukayo. Jack, Emile. Arsène, Arsenal.

The club is still here. How much of the man is left?

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