London, Oct 13: Known to rely a lot on youth, English Premier League club Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that having too many young players in the side could be a deterrent to its title hopes.

The Frenchman was frank about ideal age of a team looking to be crowned champions, telling the club's website that the key players in the squad should be between 23-30 years of age. [EPL Schedule of Game week 8]

"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 www.arsenal.com.

"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."

IANS