What Merida tells us about Wenger

Some people collect stamps. Some people collect coins. One person - Arsene Wenger - collects talented teenage footballers, from every corner of the world.

The problem is, when you collect coins, you keep as many as you like. When you collect footballers, the display cabinet is finite. It only has eleven spaces.

Which means, every so often, you need a clear-out. A spring clean; a car boot sale, if you like. Who’ll take my Hoyte? Middlesbrough, three million quid, thanks very much. Anyone for a Connolly? QPR, one million, thank you.

And so Fran Merida, the 19-year-old Catalonian, will return to Spain this summer. Will he be missed? Not one bit.

Not, of course, because he isn’t talented. His only Arsenal goal - against Liverpool in the Carling Cup - showed daring, a quick brain, and a sharp left foot.

In 13 Arsenal appearances, he’s shown good speed, a good touch, and nice movement. He can switch play; he can slide in strikers. In fact, he’s like every midfielder to emerge from London Colney in the past three years: skilful, speedy, and short.

And that’s his problem: there’s too much competition. At Arsenal, happily, you have to seize your chance. Kieran Gibbs, for example, did that. Justin Hoyte, in 68 appearances, didn’t.

In the first team, Merida has Andrei Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, and Jack Wilshere to compete with at left midfield. In reserve, there’s Henri Lansbury - who has signed a new deal - and, possibly, Nacer Barazite and Mark Randall, if either avoids the car boot sale.

But Merida’s departure, which newspapers barely covered, isn’t insignificant. It shows Arsenal’s depth of talent; it vindicates - in part - Wenger’s transfer policy. Would Merida, for example, be fifth choice left-winger at Liverpool? There, he’d probably start. He certainly wouldn’t leave, via the back door, for Madrid.

So Wenger - as the above names prove - can spot midfielders. Why, then, does his title-chasing squad have five left midfielders, and two centre-halves?

Because players like Nasri, and Rosicky, embody the manager’s ideal. They're his passion. They fizz the ball on the floor; their touch is perfect; they keep possession. When Wenger sees them, he wants them; wants them to admire, wants them in his display cabinet.

Asking Wenger to pick a decent centre-half, on the other hand, is like asking Eric Clapton to pick a clarinetist. Not interested. Don't care.

If Merida played centre-half as well as he plays left-wing, he wouldn’t be leaving. He’d be on the bench, every game, as Thomas Vermaelen’s deputy. He’d have played at West Ham. He’d have a five-year contract.

As it is, he’s leaving, with a production line of 5ft midfielders behind him. Meanwhile, Arsenal’s title challenge is one injury from extinction.