ARSENAL MANAGER ARSENE Wenger has highlighted the importance of experience and feels the core of a successful team has to be between the age of 23 and 30.

Wenger has regularly been criticised for his tendency to rely on promising youngsters rather than seasoned stars, but he has now acknowledged a young team is unlikely to win any major trophies.

“To be a real football player, you need to be 23 years old because before you have learned your job, you can have a great game and after, sometimes an average game,” Wenger told the club’s official website.

“You can have one or two exceptional talents, like at the moment we have Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi, but the core of the team has to be from 23 to 30.

If you look at the national teams, you never win a tournament with a young team, because it’s more mental at some stage to win something big.

“You need to have a certain level of experience.”

Arsenal face Swansea in the Premier League at the Emirates on Saturday.

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