To be realistic, not all academy products will play for the first team. A breakthrough sometimes comes with luck which is mostly when a player in their position goes out injured. Or when the club is low on resources and put trust in a player, like in the case of Eddie Nketiah. Eddie spend time developing with first team and his chance came when the club had to replace departed first choice and second choice strikers, Aubameyang and Lacazette. Instead of spending money on 2 new strikers, the club signed only one in Gabriel Jesus, and put trust in Eddie to take up the other place.

It was a good decision, but they also had the highly rated academy star, Folarin Balogun, who spend a season on loan in France. Balogun had a very good season scoring 21 times in Ligue 1, and he recently also became a US international. The club now has a decision to make on his future with a contract ending in June 2025.

It is good to have players come through the academy straight into the first team but that is not always going to work. Sometimes these players are not good enough, and sometimes they are but they might be too many of them coming up at the same time. Like in the current case, Arsenal are facing a dilemma whether to keep Balogun or move him on, or keep Nketiah or move him on. That is good credit for the academy for producing two players who are ready to play for the club. The only problem is that they wont play in the first team at the same time, only one will. The club have enough options for the strikers position and it could demoralized the player if they are kept and not played regularly.

If Arsenal cash in on Balogun for example, it won’t be the end of the world because Khayon Edwards is right behind developing in the right way. He is going to turn 20 this year and if he is allowed to go on loan, he could develop much quicker and be an option for club next season. Arsenal might lose out on Balogun but they might be developing another player who has a realistic chance to make the first team without competition from another academy product. Edwards signed his first professional contract with the club last year and is just as highly rated as Nketiah and Balogun at youth level.