3 reasons why Arsenal must keep Chido Obi Martin
• The integrity of Hale End
• Additional flexibility with transfers
By Affan Khan
![Mikel Arteta must convince Chido Obi Martin of his Arsenal future. Mikel Arteta must convince Chido Obi Martin of his Arsenal future.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3000,h_1687,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/209/01j2k8qt6n3hncpv83zq.jpg)
2. Protect the integrity of Arsenal's youth academy
The Arsenal Academy has brought some excellent talents into the limelight over the years. However, despite the quality it generates, the club has barely reaped any of its benefits in recent years, apart from the obvious success story of Bukayo Saka. The likes of Nketiah, Smith Rowe, and Nelson showed great potential at one time, but these players are now struggling for minutes at Arsenal, and it is difficult to see the club recoup anywhere near their actual value.
In comparison, Chelsea (£285m) and Manchester City (£320m) have both generated huge earnings from academy sales over the last 10 years. It is certainly not a question of the quality of players, but more so on how this quality is handled, and Arsenal need to improve on this going forward.
Already, the effects of mishandling talent are being felt in real-time. Many academy graduates have left in search of a club with better career progression, including Amario Cozier-Duberry, Reuell Walters and Omari Hutchinson. Even with these sales, Arsenal have failed to earn what they deserve based on the quality of these talents, purely due to mismanagement. The last thing they want to do is lose another key youth talent like Chido Obi, as this will only further stagnate the Arsenal youth academy.
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