Wenger faith in young British stars

Manager Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal must build their future around young British players like Jack Wilshere.

The 20-year-old has just returned from a long injury lay-off and is understood to be in preliminary negotiations over a contract extension. Wenger believes along with fellow England internationals Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere - who has been at the club since the age of nine - can become the heartbeat of the team.

"He has two-and-a-half years left - that's quite a long time. We have built a team (where) we have a lot of young English players, or British players like Gibbs, Chamberlain, Wilshere. We still have the case of (Theo) Walcott, Aaron Ramsey. You want them all on long-term contracts," Wenger said.

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