So often football clubs, especially those with significant financial muscle, will opt to replace injured or departed players with big-money signings. Traditionally however, the preferred option would be to look to the academy, giving a chance to a young talent who could replace a missing player essentially for free. That's exactly what Arsenal have done.
It's always been Mikel Arteta's preference to look to Arsenal's famous Hale End academy before going out to make a signing. While the ruthless goalscorer the Gunners need may not be in the academy, the replacements for the injured Ben White and Bukayo Saka certainly were.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, both goalscorers in Arsenal's emphatic 5 - 1 win over Manchester City on Sunday, have shone in their breakout seasons so far.
Nwaneri was already somewhat on the radar having become the Premier League's youngest player in 2022, but his talent has become even more obvious in big moments this season.
Lewis-Skelly meanwhile is Arsenal through and through. The full-back is undeniably a Gunner, and even wears the number 49 to commemorate the Invincibles (although he was born two years after the streak ended).
So what is it about Hale End that makes it so special and how has the Arsenal academy produced so many past and current gems?
A History of Greatness
Hale End had already been producing quality players long before Arsenal joined the Premier League Academy structure in 1998.
Arsenal legends of the 70s and 80s played youth football in North London. Liam Brady and David O'Leary, winners of a combined seven major trophies with the Gunners, had signed youth deals as 15-year-olds.
Brady was an important example; he not only had success with Arsenal, but went on to have a successful career in Italy after his spell in North London, representing clubs such as Inter Milan.
His success was key to putting Arsenal's success as a developer of young players on the map. But of course the best talents stayed with the Gunners.
In 1989, Arsenal went to Anfield needing to win by two goals to take the title from Liverpool. If you think the Aguero goal in 2012 was special, what Arsenal did was unbelievable.
After Alan Smith had given Arsenal the lead at the start of the second half, academy graduate Michael Thomas netted the second in the 91st-minute, handing Arsenal the title on the final day of the season away to the side they were beating to the triumph.
It's literally the equivalent of Ethan Nwaneri scoring in stoppage time at Anfield this season to give Arsenal the trophy ahead of Liverpool.
What made an already generational achievement even more special for the Gunners was that five of their starting XI came from their academy.
As well as match winner Thomas and legendary defender O'Leary, the Gunners side featured captain Tony Adams, striker Paul Merson and the late, great David Rocastle, all academy graduates.
The talent factory continued after Arsenal joined the Premier League Academy set-up in 1998, with some of the best talents including invincibles Ashley Cole, Ray Parlour and Cesc Fabregas.
Fabregas in particular was an astonishing signing, as he not only won the title with Arsenal but also fetched a then-big fee of £25 million for his transfer to Barcelona in 2011.
Even with big shoes to fill, Hale End continued to produce outstanding talents, most notably Jack Wilshere, who joined at the age of nine. This started a trend of players joining in their primary and early secondary school years, with several of the current Arsenal squad doing the same.
Modern Academy for a Traditional Club
Arsenal are and always have been a club rooted in tradition. There has always been an expectation to play "the Arsenal way" which fans to this day expect and demand. The only way for such a traditional club to ensure this continued was to build a modern academy.
Both Hale End and Sobha Realty Training Centre (where the first team trains) are development hubs for some of the most exciting young talents in English football.
Arsenal's U21s and U18s play exactly the same shape as the first team. This is fairly common practice for academy teams, especially of Premier League clubs, but the extent to which Arsenal go to ensure this remains the case is entirely different.
At U21s level for example, the Gunners had three highly promising central defenders in Zane Monlouis, Maldini Kacurri and Ayden Heaven. But rather than change their shape or work a third centre-back into their U21s team, the Gunners opted to let Heaven leave for Manchester United.
While this rigid structure of sticking to exactly the same shape as the first team occasionally costs the academy teams results, it puts players in a better frame of mind and prepares them better to play in Arsenal's first team.
Neither Ethan Nwaneri or Myles Lewis-Skelly are playing in their preferred positions at the moment and yet they're still thriving at the Emirates.
Current Stars
Arsenal had something of an injury crisis in the first half of the season, with several first-team defenders as well as Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard suffering long-term injuries.
With less-than-ideal squad depth, Mikel Arteta turned to his academy, with Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri being brought into the spotlight.
Nwaneri was an instant hit, coming on against Leicester and Nottingham Forest to brighten Arsenal's performances up. He did exactly that, winning the corner Arsenal went ahead from against Leicester and wrapping up the win over Forest with his first Premier League goal.
These contributions came with the 17-year-old playing in the number ten position, his natural position. But perhaps more impressive is what Nwaneri has been able to do in Bukayo Saka's place on the right.
To young Arsenal fans, Bukayo Saka is the holy grail of academy development. The England winger has been at Arsenal since he was six-years-old and is well on his way to writing himself into Gunners folklore, much the same as Tony Adams did.
The hamstring injury Saka sustained at Crystal Palace could have brought Arsenal's season to an abrupt halt. Combined with the injury Gabriel Jesus suffered just a few weeks later, the Gunners would've been down to just four attackers with games every three days.
Instead, Ethan Nwaneri, playing completely out of position, has proven himself a genuine option on the right. The England U21 international started and scored from Saka's right-wing spot against Brighton and Girona, before coming off the bench to score a ridiculous goal against City on Sunday.
That being said, without wanting to take anything away from Nwaneri, he is playing as much through necessity as he is through quality. The same cannot be said for Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Arsenal's make-shift left-back (who is naturally a central midfielder) has kept the likes of Riccardo Calafiori and Jakub Kiwior out of the team on the merit of his own outstanding performances.
Sunday's astonishing display against the Premier League Champions wasn't just about his first goal in professional football, but more the maturity and confidence he displayed in all areas of the pitch.
It wasn't the first outstanding performance this season from Lewis-Skelly either. He was influential in Arsenal's Champions League victory over Monaco, making things happen in a game where the Gunners were otherwise static.
Perhaps the biggest testament to the 18-year-old though was the fact that Mikel Arteta handed him his professional debut in the 2 - 2 draw at the Etihad which made Sunday's game so fiery.
Lewis-Skelly has an abundance of character, which showed in his copying of Erling Haaland's celebration. The City striker asked him who he was after the game in Manchester earlier this season; after Sunday's game, Haaland, like everyone else in the football world, knows very well who Myles Lewis-Skelly is.
The frequency at which Arsenal develop these first-team-ready young talents is quite something. It's not as if these players are of EFL-quality and being forced into the Premier League; both Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri have scored have Premier League goals to their name and both have started and delivered in the Champions League.
It's a testament not only to Mikel Arteta and the culture he's created at the club but also Academy Director Per Mertesacker and academy coaches Mehmet Ali (U21s) and Adam Birchall (U18s).
All three men have played a part in the development of both Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, with more talent on the way from Hale End.
The likes of Max Dowman and Ismeal Kabia are shining lights of the future for the Gunners, who may well be the next in line after Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri.
Either way, Arsenal are a club maintaining their traditions with a modern academy and doing it well. While many of their top six rivals have spent big to replace injured or departed players, the Gunners have spent absolutely nothing on either of the two young players making their names this season.
Add to that the fact that Bukayo Saka, one of the best players in Europe let alone the Premier League, was also an academy product, and the Gunners have every reason to be confident that the talent factory they have at Hale End will continue to produce outstanding footballers.
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