Arsenal and Vinai Venkastesham: Finally, a modern understanding

This week, Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatesham extolled the financial importance of a strong academy. Finally, the club is being run with a modern understanding of the business of football.

The explosive nature of the modern transfer market has largely been detrimental to teams trying to buy players. While there is more money in football than there has ever been, the prices are higher than they ever been as well. And because of that, there is a greater awareness of clubs to be financially prudent, such that it allows them to conduct smart and effective recruitment.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Unai Emery out?

For those that have the resources to initially invest, there is great financial reward to be found in a productive academy. Young players are extremely cheap to sign and develop, their wages are minimal, and the prices for these players have sky-rocketed, with £10 million now the minimum for a player with even a remotely gifted skill set and limited first-team experience.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Liverpool have exploited this excellently in recent years, offloading the likes of Jordan Ibe and Dominic Solanke to fund moves for more impactful players, while Chelsea have also started to reap the benefits of their loan army, both in terms of playing the players they have developed and offloading others to fund more high profile transfers. And now it seems as though as Arsenal are starting to catch up with the crowd.

This week, Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatesham spoke to the Strait Times. As a part of the interview, he was asked about the positive impact of having a productive academy. This was his response:

"“First, it is financially efficient. The more players you have coming from the academy, the more funds you can then use to invest in the transfer window because you then have a budget that is being stretched among fewer players. More important than that is we want players in the dressing room who really understand what it means to play for Arsenal, players who have grown up with the club.”"

This comes a week after the head of the academy, Per Mertesacker, explained that he does not mind talented young players leaving the club because the fees they recoup help to fund other moves, even if it means one or two special talents slip through their fingers.

While this might seem like a rather ruthless and cold view of an academy, treating young players as assets to offload rather people to invest in, realistically, many of the academy graduates will not make it into the first-team squad. If there are three or four academy players in the squad, that is rather impressive.

And so, in a modern game that revolves around who can the spend the most and success is often determined by substantial and smart recruitment, the academy takes on a different purpose: it is not to produce a team, like the Class of 92, but rather, it is to fund moves that can produce a team.

This is the modern way of thinking about an academy. And Arsenal, finally, are catching up to the crowd.