Inside Hale End academy, Arsenal’s foundation for success

LONDON — Arsenal’s determination to repeat last season’s unexpected push for the Premier League title runs deep in north London.

The club’s ambition in the transfer market this summer is clear after completing three major deals already — West Ham midfielder Declan Rice (£105 million), Chelsea forward Kai Havertz (£67.5m) and Ajax defender Jurrien Timber (£40m) — for an outlay of over £200m as they seek to close the gap on eventual champions Manchester City after topping the table for 248 days. But the foundations for sustaining their recent progress have been laid much closer to home.

Of arguably equal significance in the club’s evolution was Bukayo Saka’s decision to sign a four-year contract worth up to £300,000 a week. The poster boy of Mikel Arteta’s side, Saka is the ultimate example for Arsenal’s next generation. Boys as young as eight play at the Hale End academy, located near Walthamstow in north-east London, hoping to emulate the England winger’s path through the age groups to establish themselves as star for club and country.

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Saka might be nicknamed “Starboy,” but he did not make his journey to the first team alone. Midfielder Emile Smith Rowe gradually became a regular at a similar time — midway through the 2020-21 season — and injected new life into Arteta’s then-ailing reign. Winger Reiss Nelson and striker Eddie Nketiah have also taken significant strides in the past season, with Nelson recently agreeing a new contract of his own reported to be worth up to £100,000 a week.

The list of famous Hale End alumni stretches back through time to include the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Tony Adams, Jack Wilshere, Wojciech Szczesny, David O’Leary and Liam Brady. And any time a player breaks into the first team it is a validation of Arsenal’s academy model. While it differs from many other clubs’ approach, with a split between the age groups, Hale End develops youngsters from under-9s through to U16s and those deemed ready to make the step up then graduate as a paid scholar at London Colney. The rest are released to try their luck elsewhere.

“Here at London Colney, U18s, U21s, first team, women’s, men’s, is more directed into performance, the success, the winning,” academy manager Per Mertesacker told ESPN. “Hale End is the development environment that we feel is needed more centrally to recruit the right players and people for us to mould them until they arrive onto the full-time programme scholarship and make their transition here.

“At the moment, we feel that’s right for Arsenal and has shown that recruiting from the areas we can recruit at Hale End works for us. Hale End is a place we love, a place we believe is right for us at the moment. And I am speaking for all academy staff basically that have experienced it and probably all academy players because they come back and feel the vibe around the place.

“Even the players know there is a fantastic connection between the players coming down to do their coaching badges. We’re super grateful. Even coaches, academy coaches that have this ‘two sides but one team,’ we live that throughout the academy because I think it is important that our U9s coach sees the phase here, and our U21s coach, Mehmet Ali, sees the U9s at Hale End. So there is constantly crossover because we have to make each other aware of what’s going on. The U9s coach needs to know what is required at the highest level.

“Other clubs do it differently. One campus; one side. At the moment, we feel like Hale End is the place for us, where we can build the foundations to have successful people over here at Colney. That might change at some stage but at the moment it is important for us to recruit in the London area where we feel like there is this hotbed of talent.”

HALE END PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Ethan Nwaneri, 16, AM

Nwaneri may not have added to his first-team minutes since being handed his Premier League debut (becoming the youngest-ever player to appear in the competition) last September, but his progress has shown no signs of slowing down. The attacking midfielder can play in a variety of roles, wide or through the centre, without any drop in quality. He has been one of the top performers for England U17 and scored seven goals (with five assists) for Arsenal’s U18 side last season. His high-level technical ability is matched by outstanding creativity, his ideas are executed quickly and he often glides past opponents in one-vs.-ones. Nwaneri sports a natural appreciation of space and links in expertly with teammates around him. On basis of his performances at youth level, labelling the 16-year-old a world-class prospect is no exaggeration. — Tor-Kristian Karlsen.

Competition to find the best young talent in London is fierce with Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace and a host of smaller clubs constantly scouting England’s capital city. Staff at London Colney have been told that even if they are watching a recreational game involving their son or daughter and a player catches their eye, they should report it to the club’s talent identification department.

Trialists are typically offered an eight-week period in which to impress and join those signed to an age-group. And they all quickly learn that Hale End operates according to a series of guiding principles which have been labelled internally as the “Four Pillars.”

These are: “Lifelong Learner,” promoting the need to stay in school and develop a well-rounded education; “Most Efficient Mover,” understanding the right movement and timing of runs; “Champion Mentality,” showing the right dedication and ability to deal with adverse situations; “Effective Team Player,” highlighting the benefits of collaboration and thinking in terms of the team over an individual.

Youngsters attend their school in the day as normal but then go to Hale End in the evenings. The U15s, led by Adam Pilling, train four times a week in addition to playing a match. Many of the age groups use six-week training programmes, broken down into two-week blocks. The U16s, led by Adam Birchall, have their training sessions recorded with the footage sent back to analysts to help inform their prematch presentations.

Even as young as at U9s level, players are given access to video of their sessions as a desire to improve is carefully nurtured alongside their growth into teenage years and adulthood.

In the Hale End canteen, players walk past the Arsenal Academy Debutants board each day at mealtimes. Established in 1954 and comprising a series of small gold plaques in a rectangular formation, each entry marks the date, age and opponent on the occasion of a graduate’s first-team debut. Some of the names include Alex Iwobi, Fabregas, Ashley Cole and more recently Saka, Charlie Patino and Folarin Balogun. Around 100 or so plaques have been filled in with roughly as many again left blank, waiting for the next star to emerge.

Although it was Arteta’s predecessor Unai Emery who handed Saka his debut shortly before leaving the club in November 2019, it is the present regime who have rekindled Hale End’s influence after a period of limited success in bringing through young players.

Mertesacker was appointed academy chief in 2018 after the centre-back retired. Former Gunners midfielder Wilshere is now U18s coach, while Arteta and technical director Edu — also ex-Arsenal midfielders — have helped give Hale End a renewed focus, more reflective of the raft of young players developed during Arsene Wenger’s near 22-year tenure up until 2018.

Arteta, Edu and Mertesacker work closely to create a unity of purpose; Hale End and London Colney may be about 20 miles apart but the trio are making sure they operate closer than ever.

“Arsenal’s youth academy, historically speaking, is the club’s identity,” Edu told ESPN Brazil. “Supporters really like to see players from the youth academy in the squad. Historically speaking, that’s something they’ve done for many years now. We have to enhance that.

“Why do you think [Bukayo] Saka wears the No. 7 shirt? Why do you think Smith Rowe wears the No. 10 shirt? “Why do you think [Gabriel] Martinelli wears the No. 11 shirt? It’s because we want to give them the responsibility to take on a different role within the club. They’re not just kids who came from the academy. They came from the academy, but they are important to us, and we want them to perform and play.

“There is a process for them to be on the first team. Without a doubt, in our everyday routine, there is a system for communication between the youth academy and the first team that is very integrated so we can help these young players go to the first team in the best way possible. They wait their turn and for the process to run its course.

“But we have a great way of working. The U20s technical staff works with the first-team technical staff. They organise training sessions together to be on the same page. There is a nice connection with the youth academy. We are working hard to see our athletes from Hale End, our youth academy, in the first team.”

HALE END PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Myles Lewis-Skelly, 16, CM

Equally able to dictate the game from a deep-lying midfield role or push forward by way of powerful accelerations and instinctive dribbles, the left-footed England U17 international cuts an atypical presence in midfield. Lewis-Skelly may eventually settle down in an out-and-out No. 8 role, but his capacity to cover vast areas and retain the ball under pressure will also prove useful in a deeper position. With some tactical and technical aspects to be polished (an overreliance on his left foot being one), at just 16, Lewis-Skelly appears an exceptionally intriguing prospect. — Tor-Kristian Karlsen.

Nurturing young talent carries great responsibility in helping fledgling lives develop, but there is also a potentially significant financial benefit to the club. Homegrown talent including Iwobi and Joe Willock have departed for considerable sums in recent years, the former joining Everton in 2019 for an initial £35m, the latter to Newcastle for £20m in 2021.

Among the current squad, young USMNT striker Balogun has been linked with a move to Inter Milan, with a transfer fee in excess of £40m mooted; Smith Rowe has previously interested Aston Villa, while Nketiah almost joined Crystal Palace last summer.

So, with books to balance, it would be easy to presume the Hale End production line has multiple drivers.

“I don’t feel [a] pressure to take off the club in terms of transfers,” Mertesacker told ESPN. “I think the club is pretty clear that this is right, to invest in the academy, the youngsters. They start their journey with the pre-academy, with the U9s. Hopefully at the end of the season in the last game, it is about trophy winning but it is as well the induction of our new U9s.

“Then you see how important that is, for the club induct the next U9s. If you look at the history, a lot of these youngsters that started at nine years old have a good chance to get a Premier League debut.

“So, I think there is a clear message to us that we need to create good people and good players that can make that step to the first team or create value for the first team. In the last five, six years, if you look at £20m+ exits, you have to look at Iwobi, Willock, Emiliano Martinez [to Aston Villa]. These are the players that probably funded the investment we made [in new players.] And we go back to a squad that now probably is ready and has good enough players for some to fund new investments [via more exits.]

“This is just brilliant to see, that we have got a squad now that has got the capabilities. And the academy has been big in funding a lot of investment. That’s just off the back of what I know. The club invests a lot of money into the academy. I want to be clear about that as well. But we believe that this is right for us, to create the right people that can make the club better. I’ve never heard anything else in terms of when we make slight adjustments or wanted to bring key people back into the academy, it was always ‘yes, we are ready to invest whatever you feel is the right logic.’

“We’re competing with good clubs that spend a bit more than us but no problem. We want to convince the youngsters with the people that we’ve got and the humility we’ve got and the values.”

HALE END PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Reuell Walters, 18, FB/CM

Having appeared on the bench in competitive fixtures for Arsenal, Walters finally tasted his first senior minutes during the recent friendly against Nurnberg. The England U19 international (he could still choose to represent Germany through a double citizenship) has been scouted by all the top clubs in the Premier League since the age of 11, but is developing at Hale End. He is unusually versatile, with an ability to feature anywhere across the defensive line and in midfield, while he is equipped with an excellent footballing brain. Walters reads the game well, opens and stretches the opponents with smart off-the-ball movement, while his practical technique, persistent ball-carrying and fine crossing skills make him highly useful in attacking areas too. — Tor-Kristian Karlsen.

Each year, the club has until the end of December to tell each player in the U16s group whether they will receive a scholarship the following summer or not. Either they receive a youth contract at Arsenal and take a major step closer to the first team, or they must face the pain of rejection. The club offers support for those who are not kept on.

Instead of going to Sixth Form or College at the end of Year 11, successful players go full-time at Colney, training every day while studying for A-levels or a B-tech. Some players move out of home to live with host families who live closer to London Colney to help make the study/football balance easier to maintain.

The prominence of Saka in the first team is inevitably a big draw. One corridor in Hale End is adorned with signed shirts from famous alumni.

“Keep working hard and enjoy yourself,” Smith Rowe wrote.

“Work hard and enjoy the journey,” reads Saka’s entry.

Saka, now 21, told ESPN: “I feel like I was managed and pushed in the right way. I’m grateful to all the coaches I had over the years. It was nice to play with special players over the years. Eddie, Reiss, etc. You learn a lot from each other. When one is doing well, you support and encourage them. When you’re doing well, they support and encourage you. It’s like a family. You all look out for each other.”