Mikel Arteta has been transformative for Arsenal.
The Spaniard's tactical and philosophical approach to the game has fundamentally changed how the team plays football on the pitch, but he's also helped shape the club off of it.
In terms of spending, the Spaniard has seen the board go big for signings like Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Riccardo Calafiori.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match-1
At the same time, the North Londoners have become far better sellers, as exemplified by the summer just gone.
However, for all the brilliant sales Arteta has overseen in recent years, he's also made a few mistakes, including with an academy gem who left without making a single first-team appearance and is now worth considerably more than the fee he earned Arsenal.
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Academy players sold by Arsenal
Before getting to the player in question, it's worth looking at some of the other youth players Arsenal have sold under Arteta's tenure, starting with one sale which was undoubtedly a masterstroke: Eddie Nketiah.
Eddie-Nketiah-Arsenal
The Hale Ender was a useful player during his time with Arsenal and ended up making 168 first-team appearances by the time he was sold for a whopping £30m to Crystal Palace in the summer.
However, the reason that the fee is so impressive is that during his time in North London, the Englishman was only able to score 38 goals and provide seven assists.
Nketiah's Arsenal record
Club
Appearances
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Goal Involvements per Match
Minutes per Goal Involvement
All Stats via Transfermarkt
Moreover, in his final campaign for the club, the 25-year-old scored just six goals and provided three assists in 37 appearances, so was hardly a key player for Arteta and Co.
Another forward out of Hale End sold by Arteta was Folarin Balogun, who still holds the record for the most goals scored for the club's U21s at a cool 37.
Arsenal Hale End U21 Top scorers (timeless)
However, despite seriously impressing out on loan with Ligue 1 side Stade Reims in the 22/23 season, scoring 22 goals and providing three assists in 39 appearances, the American international couldn't be guaranteed a starting berth in Arteta's team upon his return.
So, instead of sending him back out on loan, the club opted to sell the promising forward to AS Monaco for an excellent fee of around £34m, and considering he's scored just 11 goals and provided five assists in 42 appearances since, it would be fair to say it was a brilliant sale for the North Londoners.
folarin-balogun-transfer-arsenal-academy-edu-arteta-omari-benjamin
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for another former academy star who's now tearing things up on the French Riviera and worth millions more than he was sold for.
The youngster Arsenal sold too soon
So, while the likes of Nketiah and Balogun were sold at the right time, and for more money than they are worth today, the same cannot be said for Mika Biereth.
Mika-Biereth-Arsenal
The Danish youngster joined Arsenal's academy set up from Fulham in the summer of 2021, and after a lacklustre loan to RKC Waalwijk for the 22/23 season, he enjoyed a far more successful campaign the following year.
The first half of the 23/24 campaign saw him score six goals and provide five assists in 15 appearances for Motherwell, and then in the second half of the season, he did even better, racking up a tally of nine goals and four assists in 22 appearances for Austrian outfit Sturm Graz.
Mika-Biereth-Sturm-Graz
Such a return was enough for the title-winning side to splash £4m on him in the summer, and to nobody's surprise, the 22-year-old poacher picked up exactly where he left off at the start of this season.
In just 25 appearances, the London-born marksman racked up 14 goals and five assists, which just so happened to be good enough to catch the eye of Monaco, who proceeded to spend £10.8m plus £1.75m in add-ons on the young Dane.
In other words, the former academy gem's value had soared by about 213% since being sold by the Gunners, and worse yet, his form for the Ligue 1 side suggests he could well have been a surprising upgrade on Kai Havertz.
For example, just taking into account his time on the French Riviera, the "crazy" talent, as dubbed by former GOAL reporter Robin Bairner, has scored 11 goals and provided three assists in 12 appearances, totalling 860 minutes, which works out to 1.16 goal involvements every game, or one every 61.42 minutes for a team in a top five league.
Biereth (Monaco) vs Havertz
Player
Appearances
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Goal Involvements per Match
Minutes per Goal Involvement
All Stats via Transfermarkt
In contrast, the former Chelsea ace was able to rack up a tally of 15 goals and five assists in 34 appearances, totalling 2776 minutes.
That means, prior to his injury, the German international was averaging a goal involvement every 1.7 games, or every 138.8 minutes, which certainly isn't bad, but it's substantially less impressive than the Monaco ace.
mika-biereth-as-monaco
Ultimately, Arteta and Arsenal have generally got their sales spot on in recent years, but given how well Biereth has taken to life in Ligue 1 this season and the Gunners' striker problems, we can't help but think they had a bit of a mare in selling the Dane.
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