Whilst big-money signings are all well and good, one of the perhaps more neglected parts of a club is how the academy is handled.
Whether it’s deciding which players would be best served staying with the youth team in order to still develop, or who deserves a promotion to the senior side, or even whether a loan spell away may just be what’s needed.
At Arsenal, whilst the likes of Raul Sanllehi and Edu are two of the more prominent backroom figures as head of football and technical director respectively, the club’s loan manager is arguably just as important.
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Ben Knapper was promoted from his role as senior football analyst at the beginning of 2019 to the newly created position of ‘loan manager’ – it was designed in the idea of working closely with Sanllehi and head of academy, Per Mertesacker, to decide which players should be allowed to depart the club on loan and where.
Last summer saw the club’s most high-profile departure in Eddie Nketiah. The England U21 international left on an initial season-long loan spell to join Leeds, but was recalled in the January transfer window after not getting enough game-time in the first-team.
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That in itself is a major reminder to Knapper and the Gunners of the pitfalls of getting such a pivotal decision wrong. Their young talents desperately need to get these early moves absolutely spot-on to ensure their development stays on the correct path. You only have to look at Serge Gnabry’s ill-fated loan spell at West Brom to see the damage it can cause in the long-term, with the German now shining for Bayern Munich and helping to beat sides like Tottenham and Chelsea in the Champions League.
With the Gunners boasting so many starlets in their ranks, like Nketiah, Joe Willock, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, amongst others, Knapper will have a huge say in how Arsenal’s short and long-term future pans out.
Meanwhile, Arsenal fans want these two Champions League stars.
