5 of the best homegrown players in Arsenal's history

#1 Tony Adams

Arsenal made a statue of Adams outside the Emirates to commemorate the Englishman

“Mr Arsenal” is his name, not Tony Adams.

Becoming Arsenal captain at just 21 years of age, and remaining club captain for 14 years thereafter, there is no way Adams could not feature in this list. He’s not only one of Arsenal’s greatest home-grown players of all time, he is one of the best players to be produced from an academy ever.

He may not have been technically as gifted as others, but his positioning, awareness and tackling abilities were magnificent.

In just his first full season as captain, Arsenal lifted the First Division. Then, two years later they won the title again with the Englishman being a thorn in the side and leading from the back.

Although he suffered from an addiction to alcohol for years, his rehabilitation and his game rose to a new level when Wenger arrived in 1997. Wenger stuck by him despite the problems, and Adams re-paid him for that, leading the club to two Premier League titles in 1998 and 2002.

Leading the side to those two titles, he became the only player in English football’s history to have captained a title-winning team in three different decades. It is a truly crazy statistic which only emphasises how great Adams was to achieve such longevity at the top level.

In 2002 he retired after 504 league appearances and he will always be remembered as an Arsenal great. One who came through the great Arsenal academy.