Where are they now? 8 Arsenal academy graduates who retired prematurely

Arsenal have produced plenty of world-class talents over the years, but not all of their academy graduates have made it at the top level.

While most professionals play into their late thirties, others end up hanging up their boots at a considerably younger age.

We’ve gone through Arsenal’s former academy graduates and have found eight of them who retired early to see what they’re up to these days.

Jack Wilshere

Injuries derailed Wilshere’s promising professional career and ultimately forced him to retire back in 2020 at the age of 30.

He’s since been working as a youth coach, first with Arsenal and now Norwich, but he’s now been handed his most senior role – albeit on a temporary basis.

Aged 33, he is the youngest manager in the Championship and will take on former Arsenal team-mate Aaron Ramsey the final day of the season when the Canaries face relegated Cardiff City.

Emmanuel Frimpong

Born in Ghana but raised in north London, Frimpong fulfilled his dream of representing his boyhood club.

But he didn’t have it easy and was sent off in just his second Premier League appearance.

“After the game, everybody came into the changing room and Arsene [Wenger] was quiet, you know. He didn’t talk, and then Nasri basically stood up in front of everybody and said we lost the game because of me,” Frimpong told The Athletic.

“Ok, I can understand that, but I was thinking, ‘Why would somebody – especially me playing, I think that was like my second game – why would any professional do that to a young player in that kind of moment?’”

The midfielder made 16 appearances for the Gunners in all competitions, but was loaned out three times and had to forge his path elsewhere.

After a short and unsuccessful stint with Barnsley, Frimpong spent his latter years turning out in Russia and Sweden, but called time on his career at the age of 27 after persistent knee problems.

Fabrice Muamba

Muamba played just two League Cup games for the Gunners, partnering Sebastian Larsson against Sunderland and Mathieu Flamini against Reading, but would end up playing more than 150 times in the Premier League for Birmingham and Bolton.

Sadly for the England Under-21 international, heart problems forced him into early retirement at just 24.

He now has a coaching role with the Burnley academy, whilst also working as a Player Services Executive for the PFA.

Thomas Cruise

“For me, there is only one Tom Cruise and he is the one who plays for Arsenal Football Club,” Wenger told reporters after confirming that the Hale End academy graduate would be handed his debut in a Champions League dead rubber against Olympiakos in December 2009.

Fellow youngsters Aaron Ramsey, Kyle Bartley and Jack Wilshere also started for Wenger’s young Gunners in a 1-0 defeat in Athens that night.

Cruise never made another appearance for Arsenal. He later turned out for Carlisle and Torquay United but hung up his boots in 2015 and subsequently became an accountant.

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Armand Traore

Traore went on to make 32 appearances for the club before he was let go in 2012.

To this day, the former defender still speaks about Wenger in glowing terms, particularly when it came to the Frenchman’s approach to mental health at the time.

“Wenger always had his door open for things like this. He didn’t make it taboo – mental health was not taboo to Arsene Wenger,” Traore told talkSPORT.

“It’s very much taboo in the world of football. I can’t say I could have gone and spoke to different managers.”

In his post-Arsenal career, Traore had stints with QPR, Nottingham Forest, Caykur Rizespor and Cardiff City, but struggled to establish himself as a regular at any of those clubs.

He then decided to retire in 2020 at the age of 31.

Kerrea Gilbert

Gilbert spent the first few years of his career going around the lower leagues of English football, being sent on loan to Cardiff, Southend, Leicester and Peterborough between 2005 and 2010.

He fancied a change of scenery after that and agreed to join MLS side Portland Timbers, but visa issues prevented him from crossing the pond.

Instead, he joined Yeovil for a season before spending short spells at Shamrock Rovers, Maidenhead United and St Albans.

The defender left the latter club in 2014 at the age of 27 and never played competitively again.

Oguzhan Ozyakup

Ozyakup made just two first-team appearances for Arsenal, both of which came in the League Cup.

But the midfielder was able to witness two famous games as an unused substitute; the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford and valiant 3-0 victory over AC Milan in an attempt to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the Champions League knockout stages.

The Turkey international left the Emirates in 2012 and established himself as a mainstay for both Besiktas and Turkey.

Ozyakup was at one time regularly linked with a move back to England, with Manchester United and Tottenham among the notable names he reportedly attracted interest from.

But a return to the Premier League never materialised and Ozyakup retired at the age of 32 in 2024.

Stefan O’Connor

Croydon-born O’Connor was earmarked as one to watch from a young age at Hale End.

The defender represented England at Under-17 level and racked up lots of experience in the Gunners’ youth ranks before making his first-team debut as a late substitute in a 4-1 Champions League victory over Galatasaray in December 2014.

However, that was his only senior appearance and his career never took off from there. O’Connor made a handful of appearances on loan at York City and MVV Maastricht before joining Newcastle in 2017, but his career was cut short by an ACL injury.

The 26-year-old has since set up his own sports management and talent agency and can be found on LinkedIn.