Unless Arsenal’s plan was to make the club stable rather than successful, then Arsene Wenger’s youth project has almost certainly failed.

The infrastructure he has put in place will serve the club well for years to come, but in terms of consistent success, Arsenal have never been further off the mark, not only during the reign of Arsene Wenger but also over the last 25 years.

It has become so normal to see Arsenal challenge for – though not necessarily win – trophies that their newfound position of outsiders looking in will take some time to get used to. Ditto for Chelsea, whose descent is as hard to grasp as the ascent of Tottenham Hotspur, a club who have always flattered to deceive to put it kindly.

Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat in the San Siro this week had the distinct feel of an end of an era to it, or rather the final death after seven years of gradually losing power. That death suffered its most mortal blow the day that Cesc Fabregas walked out of North London and into Barcelona.

Fabregas stood for everything the new Arsenal did. He was young, pass happy, mature beyond his years and ferociously ambitious and talented. Fabregas turned into the player Wenger wanted him to be. He was the first off the pipeline of Arsenal’s new youth policy and his career trajectory took an almost exponential rise, improving year on year, going from an exciting but error prone 16-year-old to fully fledged star and leader by 20.

The Spaniard was the right man to lead Arsenal’s revolution. He carried the banner for building a winning side through beautiful football with a team young enough to dominate for a decade, and most importantly without costing Arsenal a penny. While Fabregas only won one trophy with Arsenal, there was the sense among the Emirates Stadium fans that as long as he was on board, everything would eventually fall into place.

Now he has gone and so, visibly, has Arsenal’s soul.

The demoralizing sight of club legend Thierry Henry in the twilight of his career trying to rally a club he no longer represents at the San Siro was enough to make any Arsenal fan give up. While Arsenal’s record goal scorer toiled, his young teammates looked overawed, clueless and stagnant – all of the things Fabregas never was.

Quite simply football isn’t a computer game. Football management isn’t as simple as just playing a group of teenagers each week safe in the knowledge that they will tangibly improve game by game. Obstacles get in the way and things rarely work out as perfectly as one would hope.

Aaron Ramsey was tipped for stardom throughout his entire teenage years but a hideous leg break appears to have stunted what looked to be a burgeoning career. The Welsh captain will no doubt continue to play at a high level for the rest of his career, but to be successful isn’t always enough. To win the Premier League or the Champions League or to a lesser extent the FA Cup, a team has to be brimming with hungry talent, marshaled by a manager who has complete control of his players. Right now Arsenal don’t have that.

Theo Walcott is another such talent. Though he can occasionally rouse a fan from his seat, at the moment Walcott looks to have gone as far as he can. The player with all the talent in the world looked perfectly set four years ago. How could someone so fast with so much potential not succeed under Arsene Wenger, who would almost certainly plant a profound footballing brain inside the youngster? Alas it seems the project has come to an end.

In hindsight it now seems pie-in-the-sky that Wenger thought he could craft a world beating side from youth team graduates, but six years ago the theory seemed plausible. And when a Barcelona side comprised of at times seven La Masia graduates won every trophy in sight, it seemed even more realistic.

In reality Barcelona’s situation is an anomaly, even to them. Barcelona will be unable to hoard trophies till the end of time through their remarkably fruitful youth system, in the same way that Manchester United’s once infallible youth system hasn’t produced a decent crop of players since the Beckham-Giggs-Scholes-Nevilles generation 20 years ago.

Things may still look up for the Gunners. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain appears to be ready to take on the best and Jack Wilshere was outplaying Xavi and Andres Iniesta under a year ago. Wilshere may end up going the way of Ramsey, letting an appalling injury stagnate a once promising career.

Arsenal should use their youth team to supplement the first team squad, not rely solely on it. If they don’t, they will be suffering more defeats at the Reebok Stadium than they will at the San Siro.