Arsenal's Hale End academy has been on a brilliant run of producing top-quality talent over the last few years.
When Mikel Arteta first took over, it was Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe who were the new youngsters taking the first team by storm.
Last season, it was Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly who burst into the senior side, and this year, it looks like Max Dowman is going to be the most talked-about youngster in the league.
Max-dowman-arsenal-leeds-united
However, despite producing numerous elite wingers and midfielders, the club has yet to develop a striker of the same calibre, selling those that have come through the ranks, including one who is now winning comparisons to Alexander Isak.
Arsenal's Hale End strikers
When talking about recent Hale End strikers, it's impossible to ignore Eddie Nketiah.
The Englishman joined Arsenal at 14 years old, made his debut for the first team in September 2017, and for a time looked like he was going to be a star for the club.
After all, he was given a new £100,000-per-week contract and the legendary number 14 in the summer of 2022, following his scoring of 10 goals and providing one assist in 27 appearances at the end of the 2021/22 season.
Unfortunately, while he was a useful squad player, that was as much as he was ever going to be at the Emirates, and so when Crystal Palace offered £30m for him last summer, the club couldn't say no.
While that was an excellent deal for the Gunners, you'd have to say the £4m they got for Mika Biereth in the same window was anything but.
Mika Biereth scores for Monaco
In the second half of last season, the Danish poacher racked up an impressive haul of 14 goals and provided five assists in 25 appearances for Sturm Graz, which was enough to convince AS Monaco to sign him in January for just over £10m.
Since joining the Ligue 1 side, the 22-year-old has scored 13 goals and provided three assists in just 22 appearances, which is precisely the sort of forward Arteta could use in the squad today.
However, perhaps the most regretful sale is of another player plying his trade on the French Riviera, a striker who has been compared to the record-breaking Isak.
The former Arsenal ace compared to Isak
Beyond the pair already mentioned, Arsenal have not sold a great deal of strikers in recent years, so it probably won't come as a surprise that the player in question is none other than Florian Balogun.
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The American international joined the Gunners at the age of eight and worked his way up through the academy, making a name for himself as a prolific number nine.
In fact, he was so prolific that he remains the club's all-time leading goalscorer for the U21 side with 37 in just 62 games.
Arsenal Hale End U21 Top scorers (timeless)
However, it wasn't until his loan move to Stade Reims for the 22/23 season that he began to translate his form at the junior level to the senior game, as in just 39 appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit, he scored 22 goals and provided three assists.
Such a rate of return gave Arteta and Co. a decision to make when he returned: play him or sell him? They opted for the latter when Monaco offered to pay a whopping £34m for the then 22-year-old.
It's been mixed for the New York-born poacher since then, as injuries have been a problem, but he's still managed to rack up a tally of 21 goal involvements in 50 appearances, totalling just 2829 minutes.
Moreover, FBref has come to the conclusion that Liverpool's new record-breaking number nine, Isak, has been the sixth most similar forward to the American over the last 365 days, which is quite the flattering comparison.
Balogun & Isak
Statistics per 90
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
Shots on Target
Goals per Shot on Target
Live Passes
Tackles Won
Carries
All Stats via FBref for the 24/25 League Season
We can get a better understanding of how this conclusion was reached by looking at some of the underlying numbers that the pair rank closely in.
These include metrics such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shots on target, goals shot on target, carries, live passes and more.
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These statistics suggest that, with the right coaching and the right system, the "special" Hale End gem, as dubbed by Arteta, could potentially perform similarly to the Swedish marksman, at least in terms of his ability to carry the ball and get into dangerous areas.
Ultimately, given the money they were offered at the time, Arsenal probably did the right thing selling Balogun, but we can't help wondering how he would have fared had Arteta opted to keep him.