Per Mertesacker’s ruthless plan to boost Arsenal’s transfer budget this summer has already begun


Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal embarked upon a brand new approach to their academy system last summer.

Many of the Gunners’ experienced under-23 players such as Zech Medley, Tyreece John-Jules and James Olayinka were sent out on loan and replaced in the side by a host of new arrivals that didn’t exactly jump off the page as an upgrade in quality.

George Lewis was brought in after most recently failing to make the grade at Norwegian third tier side Fram Larvik, while Jonathan Dinzeyi and Tim Akinola came in after being released by Tottenham and Huddersfield respectively.

Of the intake only Swedish forward Nikolaj Moller really impressed and the Young Gunners form unsurprisingly suffered as a result.


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Arsenal’s under-23s were only able to secure their Premier League 2 survival on the final day of the season leading Steve Bould to somewhat ruthlessly be sacked as their coach last week.

On the face of it this might seem like a season of failure for the Gunners’ academy, but dig a little deeper and it’s clear to see that 2020/21 has gone far better than it seems.

At a base level this is because results at youth level just aren’t as important.

Of course victory is the aim, but unlike in first team football, where winning is everything, the focus is instead on player development.

Also though, it’s worth considering the effect that Hale End products can have on the Arsenal first team even if they never end up playing for it.

As the Gunners head into the transfer market this summer, they do so having to contend with a restricted budget brought about by the ongoing financial impacts of COVID-19 and a lack of European football for the first time in a quarter of a century.

With this in mind generating transfer funds from any source possible is going to be vital this summer if Mikel Arteta and Edu are going to complete the summer squad overhaul they have planned.

While the aim of sending many of the under-23 players out on loan this season was to help develop them as players, Arsenal’s academy manager Per Mertesacker has already admitted that he will not be afraid to sell young players if the right offers come in for them.



Arsenal Adacemy Manager Per Mertesacker during a training session at London Colney
Arsenal Adacemy Manager Per Mertesacker during a training session at London Colney

“For the benefit of him maybe sometimes you have to lose a player for a lot of money,” he said when asked about the threat English academies faced of losing their brightest talents due to the lack of an obvious pathway to the first team in 2018.

“He has not played regularly, but still there is always that decision to make. Is it because we think he can make it somewhere else or do we really think he can make it here.

“So you’ve got to weigh all these options. But we’re not shy to let players sometimes go when it’s beneficial for their development.”

While not every Arsenal under-23 player’s loan spell has gone to plan this season there have been plenty of examples where the plan to expose them to first team football to make them more valuable assets has gone to plan.

This can be seen clearly with three young centre backs who left the Gunners temporarily this season.

Daniel Ballard‘s form with Blackpool has earned him regular call ups to the Northern Ireland national team, while Mark McGuinness‘ successful spell at Ipswich has seen him called up to the Republic of Ireland under-21s and Harry Clarke has been able to show his versatility by playing games for Oldham at right wing back as well as centre back in a back four and a back three.

In all three cases the players are far more valuable now than they were when they left Arsenal at the beginning of 2020/21.



Arsenal centre back Mark McGuinness in action during his loan spell at Ipswich Town (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
Arsenal centre back Mark McGuinness in action during his loan spell at Ipswich Town (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

With the glut of centre backs for Mikel Arteta to currently choose from in the first team at the moment, it’s perhaps difficult to see how they will get too many opportunities with the Gunners at senior level in the short term at least.

So if the club do decide it’s best for their youngsters development to allow them to leave permanently this summer, they can now demand a far higher transfer fee than they would have been able to six months ago.

Arsenal’s recent history with their academy is littered with players who were allowed to leave the club for lowly fees after failing to make it into the first team not for lack of talent but lack of opportunities at that time.

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Perhaps the most egregious example is Serge Gnabry who has gone on to become a Champions League winner with Bayern Munich, but Ismael Bennacer, who now plays for AC Milan, and Donyell Malen, who is a full international for the Netherlands, also stand out.

With Mertesacker’s new approach though, the Gunners seemed determined to finally learn from their mistakes and make sure this doesn’t happen again.

While this may come at the detriment of the under-23 side in the short term, it looks set to benefit the club in their transfer ambitions for years to come.





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