Which academy has developed the most members England’s Euro 2020 squad?

It is a question I can see being added to pub quizzes up and down the country if England go on to win the championships. And the answer might surprise you.

Sheffield United.

Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Aaron Ramsdale all came through Sheffield United’s academy.

When you consider that 14 of the last 16 FA Youth Cups have been won by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United, you would expect players from those teams to be dominating the England team. But they are not.

When you go through the England starting XI from last night, the keeper was from Sunderland. The back 4 from Sheffield United (x2), Barnsley and Southampton.

Move through to the midfield it is the West Ham and Leeds access that has been the engine room of success.

It is only when you get to the front 4 that you see players from Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.

After Sheffield United with 4, the next most represented academy are Southampton and Manchester City with 3.

Then comes Sunderland, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea with two a piece.

With one representative are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Leeds, Leicester City, Tottenham and West Ham.

When you dig down at the players who came through the bigger academies, a bigger story unfolds.

Whilst Manchester City might have 3 academy products in the squad, Jadon Sancho and Kieran Trippier both left without making an appearance.

It is the same story for Sam Johnstone who left Manchester United without even a League Cup appearance to his name, whilst Conor Coady’s only start for Liverpool was in Europa League group stage match against Anzhi Makhachkala.

This is a squad forged in those “smaller” academies, where players are perhaps not as pampered as much. Where they have had to graft to get to the top.

Maybe it is this reason why this England squad is a lot more likeable than those gone past? They do not have the arrogance of the Manchester United / Liverpool dominated teams of the 00s? They seem a lot less “media trained” and just say what they think?

It also brings up a wider discussion.

Whilst “home grown” players often come with a premium, that tends to be only when they are “truly established”.

Take Maguire.

Maguire joined Hull City in a deal worth £2.5 million. Three years later he joined Leicester City on a five-year contract for an initial £12 million fee. In 2019 Manchester United paid £80million for him.

His central defensive partner was signed by Everton from Barnsley for a transfer fee reported to be in the region of £3 million.

Mings joined Bournemouth from Ipswich for just £8million an Wolves spent just £2million bringing Coady to the club.

Over the years Arsenal have scoured the world to look for defensive reinforcements – but how many of our solutions could have been found had we spent a bit more time looking at home.

We are linked with James Maddison for £60million. Three years ago Leicester City spent £20million on him.

The same year that Maddison joined Leicester, Jack Grealish was on the verge of signing for Tottenham for a similar price.

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England’s success has shown that there is talent lower down the Premier League and in the Championship.

We as Arsenal fans should not turn our noses up if we buy lower league layers. They could be the next Maguire, Maddison or Grealish.

Keenos

Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock had fantastic ends to last season.

Joe Willock on loan at Newcastle was key to their survival scoring 8 goals in 14 games; whilst Smith Rowe became a key player in Arsenal’s revival in the 2^nd half of the season.

But we might be in a situation where both end up leaving the club this summer.

Now over the years, I have been a huge champion of our academy and the fact that we now have so many academy graduates in and around the first team is something to be excited about.

But that does not mean we need to keep every single one.

Last season Arsenal were crying out for creativity and goals from midfield.

Smith Rowe provided the creativity and Willock showed for Newcastle that he can score the goals.

It is not hard to make the argument that both should be part of Mikel Arteta’s plans next season.

But what then happens when upgrades on the pair are available? And offers come in for them that are just too much to turn down?

Houssem Auoar is a player Arsenal have chased for some time.

He risks becoming a Julian Draxler-esque where we are linked every summer but never actually sign him.

If he were to join Arsenal, it would be this summer or never.

Last summer Lyon were demanding a £55.5m transfer fee for a player who was considered one of the hottest prospects in Europe.

12 months on and Lyon would reportedly accept a bid in the region of £25m.

A mixture of his drop in form, Lyon’s financial woes and Auoar having a year left on his contract has seen his price plummet.

Capable of playing left, right and centre behind a striker as well as deeper in an “8” role, Auoar is exactly the type of player we need to add to the squad. And at £25m we would be getting an absolute steal.

Still just 23-years-old, Auoar would start ahead of both Smith Rowe and Willock.

James Maddison was perhaps unlucky to make the England squad as Gareth Southgate went for Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish as his attacking midfield options.

“It’s an area of the pitch where we have unbelievable competition for places,” Southgate said during his squad announcement. “We just feel there are players ahead of James in those areas of the pitch.

Maddison’s season was hampered due to various injuries knee, hamstring and hip injuries.

It is the hip injury that is most concerning as he picked it up taking a corner and since his return Youri Tielemans has remained on set pieces.

Taking into account the quality of Maddison’s delivery, you have to assume that his absence from corners and free kicks is due to that hip injury.

I remember watching Maddison during his Coventry games and one thing that always stuck in my mind was his “unusual” technique of striking the ball – he tended to hit the ball with the back of the inside of his foot rather than middle.

This technique alongside the power and whip he gets on the ball puts a lot of strain on the hip. And if surgery has restricted his movement in that area, he might never be the same player again.

We would have to assume if he were to join Arsenal, we would give him a thorough medical to ensure that hip is 100%.

With 27 goals in his last 3 seasons, Maddison would certainly give something Arsenal are missing.

His striking of the ball from outside the area would also be a game changer when teams are sitting deep.

For Leicester City he has played left, right and centrally, showing that he has the versatility to rotate in and out of different positions – a key factor under Arteta as he looks to bamboozle opponents with attackers swapping positions during games.

A fee of £60m does seem big taking into account his recent injury record – but if he is fully fit it is probably his “market price” when you see what other attacking midfielders might go for this summer.

It is similar to the fee that is being floated around for Grealish, who I would say a fit and firing Maddison is on par with.

Aston Villa paid £38 million for Emi Buendia and are reportedly chasing Smite Rowe for a similar value. Maddison is more established and influential than both of these.

So with Maddison and Auoar potentially available for a combined £85million, and Willock and Smith Rowe being linked away for around £55million combined, should Arsenal sell 2 and invest a further £30million?

You perhaps have to be cruel to be kind.

Are Maddison and Auoar better than Smith Rowe and Willock? I would say yes. Would getting the pair for a net of £30million be a great deal? I would say yes. So should we upgrade? Probably.

I think the more likely solution is we end up with one – probably Auoar.

Auoar would then be alongside Smith Rowe competing to play with Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top.

But then Maddison, Auoar, Pepe and Saka as options behind the striker would be even more powerful.

The final thought is the last scenario is 4 players for 3 positions. Is that enough? Could we actually also keep Smith Rowe alongside Maddison and Auoar giving us 5 options behind Aubameyang.

Would Smith Rowe be happy with being 5^th choice? And would Arsenal be crazy to turn down such a big offer from Villa? And can we afford to turn it down if we target both Maddison and Auoar?

Plenty to think about over your lunch break.

Keenos

In recent years, Arsenal have been criticised for letting some talented youngsters go.

The real Serge Gnabry story has been written numerous times; those that ignore what actually happened do so because the truth does not suit their agenda.

Likewise the criticism of the club for releasing Donyell Malen, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Ismaël Bennacer has always baffled me.

Malen at youth level was a long way behind the likes of Stephy Mavididi, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson and had the likes of Xavier Ameachi and Bukayo Saka coming up behind him.

He decided to return to his native Holland where he has performed well. However there is a huge gulf between the Eredivisie and the Premier League.

I am sure had Nelson or Nketiah gone to Holland at the same time, they would have similar numbers – maybe even more.

Until he shows that he can put up similar performances in England or Germany, I do not think he should be put down as “one that got away”.

Likewise, those that write that “The Jeff” should ever have been sold probably do so because they were one of the ones that hyped him up as the next big thing following one Emirates Cup pass.

He was so sought after when leaving us that he joined Angers.

Lyon then spent €25 million on him, he played 15 league games and they loaned him to Nice.

Within the terms of the loan deal, Nice had an option to sign him for €25 million. But after making just 13 league appearances last season they decided to not trigger the deal.

Reine-Adelaide is now 23. Put him up against Emile Smith Rowe (3 years younger) and tell me who the better player is. It is the Englishman.

I doubt there will be too many of Europe’s top clubs looking to sign Jeff this summer.

Finally Ismaël Bennacer sums up the “hindsight football expert” that social media seems to have been created.

I was in Sheffield that fateful night when we lost 3-0 to Wednesday in the League Cup. It was Bennacer’s debut and he was less than impressive – as was much of the team.

When Bennacer joined Italian club Empoli, it was done with barely any fanfare. No one was saying it was a mistake. That we should not have sold him.

He was just another youngster who had failed to make the grade and was let go.

After 2 good seasons, AC Milan came in for him.

It was at this point there was a bit of noise from some that we “should not have let him go”. Where were these people when we sold him? They probably had not even heard for him.

Youngsters need game time to improve and progress.

We have seen that with Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka – meanwhile Nketiah and Nelson have stagnated due to lack of game time.

The thing is Arsenal are not a charity. We are not a feeder club. We can not give game time to every young player in academy. We can not develop every single one.

Most players in top sides academies will leave to find first team football elsewhere.

Some will sink and end up working on a building site, telling stories about how they were once at Arsenal or Chelsea; others will find their place in the lower leagues. Whilst the odd few will work hard and rise back to the top.

Nothing that Malen, Reine-Adelaide or Bennacer have done has proved Arsenal wrong in thinking they would not be good enough for us. None are playing at a higher level than Arsenal.

And this brings me on to Guendouzi.

Matteo could be the one who, alongside Gnabry, a genuine case could be made that he ended up playing at another level than Arsenal.

But like Gnabry, his time at the club will be re-written by many.

At 19, Guendouzi looked the find of a generation.

Tall, strong, confident. He was an Arsenal captain in waiting.

And then the cracks began to appear. The issues. The arguments. The petulance.

Now 22, it seems his behaviour is not improving with age.

His social media posts over the last few days (many deleted) highlight just why Mikel Arteta had enough of his attitude.

Will it finally click at Marseille? Will he go on to put in a stellar season or two which will get him that move to Bayern Munich, Manchester City or Real Madrid?

His future is in his own hands. It always has been.

For now, I will not lose any sleep in us selling Guendouzi. Arteta can not be a babysitter to a 22-year-old man.

Let him be another clubs problem. Another managers pet product. But history has a tendency of repeating itself.

If Guendouzi grows up, he could be a great. If he doesn’t, he will go the way of many before him and just be a footnote in history.

Keenos