Arsene Wenger has a real talent for developing and breeding young players in the hope that they might become the future stars of Arsenal Football Club. His track record would reaffirm the idea that he is one of the best, if not the best in the game at producing quality young players to make the step up.

However, whilst trawling the forums, blogs and newspapers this morning I stumbled across an immensley interesting article in the Daily Mail that pays tribute to a 62 year old French psychologist who has played an important role in the production of Arsene Wenger’s young guns.

Jacques Crevoisier has known Wenger for almost 40 years and has worked with some of Europe’s brightest young talent. Crevoisier states, “Arsene Wenger always tells me that you have to be clever to play for Arsenal and that is where he starts…Without that, you cannot fit into his system. At Arsenal I’ve done tests for all the young players. They were all outstanding psychologically. I think Wilshere’s showed him to be a bit more confident than Walcott but they all had some of the best profiles you will see.”

For Crevoisier, these psychometric tests intend to measure psychological endurance, competitiveness, emotional control, stress resistance, aggression amongst a variety of other characteristics. There main aim is to uncover strengths and weaknesses so that the manager can work on young players shortcomings and build upon their strengths. It is also hoped that the tests would detect whether these future stars have the intelligence to match their skill and ability.

The 117-question analysis has stark results. Crevoisier says that some of the results of the young English players are different compared to their French equivalents “Young English players come across as more committed and aggressive in the test but their self-confidence and concentration is not as good” Crevoisier explains this as due to a lack of first team opportunities. He furthermore makes it clear that, “If you are at an average-sized club in France you will get the opportunity to play. At the same size club in England, you have, say, a 28-year-old international with lots of caps in front of you and the chance is not there.”

Crevoisier’s work is not foolproof. He recalls his time at Tottenham and states that it does not always work. He believes that if significant steps are not taken to work on the results of these tests then there is little point in the exercise. In addition he remembers “giving the young players at Tottenham their tasks and they would do them at the end of training. The problem was that the players were not given a chance in the first team – they still aren’t. What is the point of having an academy if you don’t use those players?”

He finalises his findings by acknowledging that this is not the case at Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has created a mentality that opportunities in the first team will arise for the talented youth if they can show that they are willing to work hard and prove that they have what it takes.

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