Major Recruitment
Arsenal’s recruitment team have been more active in the transfer market than many people are aware of. The club has moved to make 5 signings so far including the most notable transfer of Willian.
Arsenal have also seen Tim Akinola join from Huddersfield Town. Jonathan Dinzeyi making the move across north London from Tottenham. Norwegian winger George Lewis arrive from Fran Larvik. And finally, Salah-Eddine join as a free agent following his February departure from Feyenoord.
It is not uncommon for Arsenal to see young players arrive from their rivals. Eddie Nketiah was acquired from Chelsea in 2015 and has gone on to feature heavily for the first team.
Brexit Barriers
However, what will become rare, if not impossible, is to see signings of the nature of Salah and Lewis. FIFA’s regulations only allow for the transfer of a player between the ages of 16 and 18 to move between countries within the EU.
Because of Brexit, Premier League clubs will now find themselves outside of the EU. This presents a big challenge for Arsenal who are going through a major recruitment restructuring.
The club has seen a plethora of recruitment staff leave including Raul Sanhelli, Francis Cagigao and Brian McDermott. The combination of COVID-19 and the restructure has streamlined the department to a more stat-based scheme.
Akinola joined Arsenal without completing the typical trial process. Supposedly the statistical analysis on the midfielder was enough to convince the youth recruitment staff to sign him.
I spoke to former Huddersfield Town Head of Football Operations David Webb about Akinola’s departure. David said, “I was surprised that Huddersfield let him go. I think he has potential.”
Sales Failure
Whether or not the stat-based drive is a success could be considered secondary. One of the key failures of Arsenal’s past is the lack of generated funds from player sales. Chelsea have been both praised and criticised for the mass loaning of young players abroad. Some of whom spending years on the club’s books, never playing a minute for The Blues before being sold.
Whilst arguably this appears wasteful the fees generated have enabled the club to compete with Europe’s super clubs in the market. Meanwhile, Arsenal are notoriously stringent with their spending. Could the club have missed a trick in this regard?
Sales of young players have not commanded significant fees, and some have even gone onto reach Champions League semi-finals in the cases of Serge Gnabry and Jeff Reine-Adelaide. Ismael Bennacer and Isaac Hayden have become regular starters for Milan and Newcastle respectively and these four barely made a scratch on the balance sheet.
Arsenal therefore are looking to sign players to develop. With the hope they will either blossom into first team talent or gain enough senior reputation to garner an increased transfer fee when they move on from the club.
The Perfect Model
Speaking on the Tactical Breakdown Podcast with Drew, I have looked to the likes of RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund with sour envy. I wish Arsenal could have the same intelligence in the market which has lifted the clubs to European acclaim, buoyed by their savvy transfer dealings.
Leipzig are not popular with rival clubs for their image, but they have created a breeding ground for top talent. Not only through their youth setup but by the acquisition of players from within Germany and abroad.
Aided by the relationship with sister club Red Bull Salzburg, Naby Keita, Hannes Wolf, Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano and Amadou Hairdara, to name but a few, have moved from Austria to Germany. But Leipzig have also seen success from Timo Werner, Willi Orban, Marcel Halstenburg and Lukas Klostermann who were purchased from German sides.
Whilst Arsenal could not commit to play the frequency of young talent Leipzig could be afforded during their rise to the upper echelons of German football. The club can certainly look to be cleverer in how they purchase players.
Looking Ahead
There are hopeful signs that the club are moving in the right direction. Continuing to snap up young talent from their English counterparts as cheaply as possible. In addition to taking advantage of what might be the last EU regulated transfer market for the foreseeable future.
Intelligence is the key word. The club must use forward thinking and intense planning with the new-look recruitment team. Mikel Arteta should be backed. However, without investment, it will rely on healthy balance sheets aided by the sale of developed youth players. The future could be bright, we will wait patiently, or rather we will try to.
By Tom Canton (@TheGoonerTalkTv)
Moving to a stats based recruitment is a progressive change for the Arsenal Academy. In the short term we need to back-fill the growing number of players going out on loan and further a field, the new business model operating in the Academy has to be supported. Mertesacker and his team are giving many youngsters accelerated progression through the age groups, 13 scholars were added to the U18s and U23s this year. The reason we are doing that is to facilitate earlier decisions on whether to keep or sell them. That system may seem brutal and there’s little disguising it will lead to greater sales and loans-but it should be remembered that means more professional careers and targeted development for the youngster involved. In any event, increased player turn-over it will necessitate having a stats based system to assess external options. It should also be said, that giving young players a second chance, particularly those who’s fundamentals look good, can pay dividends. Don’t mention Harry Kane, Really don’t. And yes it will look much more like what say a Dortmund or RB Salzberg might do. May be it should.