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Arsenal’s Possible Transfer Strategies From 2020/21 Season Onwards

By Flavis Thomas

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 01: Arsenal players celebrate with the trophy during the FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 1, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 01: Arsenal players celebrate with the trophy during the FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 1, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) /
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The Romantic Transfer Strategy: Being an Academy Focused Club

Bukayo Saka  (Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
Bukayo Saka  (Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images) /

There is something fundamentally satisfying about watching an Academy player fulfill his potential and perform at the highest level. Be it the days when an injury-free Jack Wilshere bossed Barcelona or when Alex Iwobi first broke into the Premier League, watching one of our own reach those levels, is epic.

Arsenal are one of the better clubs when it comes to promoting academy talent. Arsene Wenger often used the cup competitions as the proving grounds to understand the quality of the younger players. Both Unai Emery and Arteta also continued giving opportunities to youngsters, albeit a select few. Ainsley Maitland-Niles among those to have enjoyed first team minutes of late.

The strategy here would involve Arsenal completely embracing the Hale End Academy graduates as their primary talent pool, much like Barcelona did with their La Masia starlets during the mid-2000s.

Much of Barça’s dominance between 2008-2015 came from a robust set of players rising through the ranks. While the club has since faltered in promoting more talent, during that period, Barcelona were practically unbeatable.

Arsenal would need to revamp the youth strategy to ensure that we do unearth the Saka-esque talent, while also not allowing a Serge Gnabry to fall through the cracks or a Jeff Reine-Adelaide to be written off too quickly.

Why this transfer strategy may work – It ensures that the club seldom has to shell out large sums of money to solve issues given the ready made (albeit inexperienced) solutions from the academy. More academy players in the senior team also entices a greater number of prospects to see Arsenal as the ideal stage to further their development.

Why this transfer strategy may not work – The honest truth is, many academy graduates never reach the soaring heights that they were originally tipped for. There is also a very real possibility that players would leave the club as soon as they feel they can earn bigger salaries elsewhere. Arsenal have also been guilty of persisting with the wrong academy players, while better prospects slipped out of their grasp.

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