5 academy graduates who were let go too soon by their original clubs | Premier League 2019-20 

Arsenal made a mistake when they let Serge Gnabry go
Arsenal made a mistake when they let Serge Gnabry go

There’s an old saying that suggests “hindsight is 20/20”, and that saying is just as applicable to the world of football as it is anywhere else. While plenty of paragraphs have been devoted to discussing the sport’s top prospects over the years, there’s never a definite guarantee that young stars will become world class players – look at Ravel Morrison or Giovani Dos Santos, for instance.

However, sometimes it feels like even the Premier League’s biggest clubs can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to some young prospects, and end up letting them go and regretting it hugely at some point down the line.

Here are 5 academy graduates whose original clubs regretted letting go.


#1 Serge Gnabry

Gnabry has scored goals against Arsenal's London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham this season
Gnabry has scored goals against Arsenal's London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham this season

Arsenal fans must’ve watched Serge Gnabry destroy the defences of both Tottenham and Chelsea for Bayern Munich in the Champions League this season and wondered “what if?”. The 24-year old German forward has become one of Europe’s most highly rated young stars during the 2019-20 campaign, scoring 17 goals in 30 games thus far for Bayern, 6 of them in the Champions League. Of course, had things been slightly different, Gnabry would be a Gunner right now.

The German international signed with Arsenal at the age of 16 after moving from VfB Stuttgart, and then progressed through the various age group teams at the Emirates before making the jump into the first team in the 2013-14 season. That campaign saw Gnabry show flashes of his talent, scoring 1 goal in 14 appearances, but a serious knee injury derailed him prior to the 2014-15 season.

Also Read: Chelsea 0-3 Bayern Munich: Lampard's Blues no match for rampant Bavarians

Upon his return to fitness, the German moved on loan to Premier League strugglers West Bromwich Albion – but his face didn’t fit with boss Tony Pulis, who didn’t see him as ready for top flight football. Gnabry was restricted to just 3 appearances all season, and after he returned to North London, despite Arsene Wenger’s best interests he wished to move home, and signed with Werder Bremen for just £5m.

One season later – after scoring 11 goals in 27 games for the Bundesliga side – he was on his way to Bayern for another small fee, just €8m. And from there, the rest is largely history; after a season-long loan to Hoffenheim, Gnabry has risen from strength to strength at the Allianz Arena, scoring 13 goals in his first season and bettering that total already this time around.

Wenger has since suggested that Gnabry’s tendency to “look for the easy way” meant that he failed at Arsenal, but let’s be honest – the Gunners must regret giving up on him so quickly and easily now.

#2 Jadon Sancho

Jadon Sancho has been on fire since moving to Borussia Dortmund
Jadon Sancho has been on fire since moving to Borussia Dortmund

Teenage sensation Jadon Sancho has been on fire for Borussia Dortmund this season, scoring 13 goals and registering 14 assists in just 21 Bundesliga appearances. The 19-year old had a breakout season in 2018-19, becoming a fully-fledged England international and scoring 12 while registering 14 assists in Bundesliga action. With his form somehow improving during the current campaign, it’s no wonder that there’s a supposed £100m+ price on his head for any potential suitors.

Probably the only party who won’t be pleased with Sancho’s development in Germany would be his former club Manchester City – who were essentially forced to let him go to Dortmund in the summer of 2017, receiving a paltry fee of around £8m for the academy product. In all likelihood, City will probably be kicking themselves for the way in which the teenager left the Etihad.

It wasn’t that Sancho wasn’t highly rated at the club; after joining their academy from Watford in March 2015 at the age of just 14, he impressed everyone with his performances for City’s various age group sides and was a fixture on the international age group scene with England, too. However, problems arose when Sancho realised that first-team opportunities would be hard to come by, despite City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak stating that he’d be fast-tracked into the senior squad.

With the likes of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne clearly ahead of him in the pecking order, the teenager made the only decision he felt he could – and engineered a move away from Manchester, heading to Dortmund, who promised him the opportunities he needed.

Also Read: 3 possible Premier League destinations for Jadon Sancho

Since arriving in Germany, to say Sancho has been a huge hit would be an understatement. And while City haven’t been short on success since his departure, with the future of Sane currently in doubt, there can be no doubt that Pep Guardiola and his team regret allowing him to leave so easily.

#3 Paul Pogba

Manchester United let Paul Pogba go for free - and then paid £89m to bring him back
Manchester United let Paul Pogba go for free - and then paid £89m to bring him back

Plenty of players leave their boyhood club only to return there later in their careers, but few end up making the move for a world record-breaking transfer fee. That’s exactly what happened to Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016, though, as the French midfielder left Juventus for a monstrous fee of £89m to return to the club whose academy he’d initially broke through in – Manchester United.

Pogba moved to Old Trafford from French side Le Havre in late 2009 as a 16-year old, and instantly slotted into a strong academy side which also contained other highly rated youngsters such as Jesse Lingard, Michael Keane and Ravel Morrison. The Frenchman helped that academy side to win the FA Youth Cup in 2010-11, and it seemed like he had a bright future with the Red Devils.

That quickly went south in 2012, though; after being promised some first team action by boss Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of the 2011-12 season, Pogba ended up making just 7 appearances in all competitions – with legend suggesting that Ferguson preferred to use the 37-year old Paul Scholes – who came out of retirement – ahead of him in United’s midfield.

That, along with frictions between the club and his agent Mino Raiola, led to Pogba refusing to sign a new contract with United, and in the summer of 2012 he moved to Juventus as a free agent. Almost as soon as he arrived in Italy, it became clear that the Red Devils had made a blunder in letting him go; his debut season with the Old Lady saw him make 37 appearances, impressing everyone with his skills, and soon after, he became a key player for the club, winning the Scudetto in each of his 4 seasons there.

His performances for Juventus – and for the French national team – prompted United to break the world-record transfer fee to “bring him home” in the summer of 2016, and despite his somewhat patchy form since, it’s crazy to think that the Red Devils need never have spent such money had they simply given him more opportunities in his first run with the club.

#4 Wojciech Szczesny

Arsenal should never have let Wojciech Szczesny leave the Emirates
Arsenal should never have let Wojciech Szczesny leave the Emirates

Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is currently rated as one of the best in the world in his position, and with huge fees now being spent on keepers – with the world record fee being broken twice in 2018 and the current record being the £71.6m paid by Chelsea for Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Arrizabalaga – it’s hard to believe that the Old Lady only paid €12m for the Polish stopper back in 2017.

The club that he broke through at as an academy graduate – Arsenal – must regret their decision greatly now. Perhaps the most painful thing for the Gunners is that Szczesny had actually established himself as their #1 before being sent packing, and in hindsight, the North London side must wish they’d had more patience with him.

Signed by Arsenal’s academy at the age of 16 back in 2006, Szczesny made his way into the senior squad during the 2009-10 season, and after a positive loan spell at Brentford, he was established as the Gunners’ #1 by the start of 2011. 2011-12 saw him play in all of Arsenal’s Premier League games, but not long after, he began to make some mistakes and his attitude was brought into question.

Although he was just 25 at the time, Arsenal’s power-brokers decided that a change was needed, and in the summer of 2015, the Polish keeper was replaced by veteran Petr Cech – some 8 years Szczesny’s senior – and sent on loan to Italian side Roma.

But despite Szczesny succeeding in his two loan spells with the Serie A team – keeping the most clean sheets in the league in 2016-17 – Arsenal still didn’t trust him, and sold him to Juventus upon his return to London.

Unfortunately for Arsenal though, Cech’s form soon started to wane, and just a year after selling Szczesny, the Gunners were forced to spend £22.5m on a replacement – Bernd Leno, who most fans today would agree isn’t quite as good as the Polish keeper – who clearly should’ve been treated more patiently at the Emirates.

#5 Josh King

Manchester United tried to buy Josh King last month - after letting him leave for a pittance in 2013
Manchester United tried to buy Josh King last month - after letting him leave for a pittance in 2013

Norwegian international Josh King is probably one of the Premier League’s more underrated strikers. Currently in the midst of his 5th season in the top flight with Bournemouth, the 28-year old has been a key contributor for the Cherries since his arrival, and 2018-19 saw him score an impressive 12 goals while also registering 3 assists.

King made the headlines in January when Manchester United made a late bid to bring him to Old Trafford, only for Eddie Howe’s side to turn down any advances – but crazily, the Red Devils could already have had the Norwegian striker on their roster had they shown a little more patience with him during his first stint at the club as an academy graduate.

The forward initially joined United as a 16-year old in January 2008, but despite impressing for their various youth teams, the best he could get from the Red Devils was a series of loan moves to the likes of Preston North End, Borussia Monchengladbach and Hull City – moves that largely failed to see him make a big impact.

A loan to Blackburn in 2012-13 proved to be more fruitful though, and the Norwegian ended up making a permanent move to Ewood Park for just £1m. 2 seasons later, he made the move to Bournemouth when his contract with Blackburn expired, and since then he’s been scoring and creating goals regularly at the Vitality Stadium.

United’s bid of £25m proved to be too little to prise him away from the Cherries’ hands, but if the Red Devils had kept him a little longer – perhaps taking a leaf out of Chelsea’s book with more loan moves – then he may well have been able to break into their first team once it began to weaken in the post-Ferguson seasons, saving them the current issues they’re going through when it comes to available strikers.

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Edited by Akhilesh Tirumala