Although Arsenal are armed with more financial firepower than ever before, they still have a remarkable capacity to find room in their first-team for academy products.
Two seasons ago, Hector Bellerin and Francis Coquelin both made the breakthrough into the senior side and have since gone on to establish themselves as vital players in Wenger’s squad. Their influence has been enormous.
Since then, they have been joined in the first team by Alex Iwobi—whose impact has been less heralded but arguably just as important.
Iwobi did not look like a first-teamer in waiting when he made his senior bow in a League Cup tie away to Sheffield Wednesday a little over a year ago.