The last 10 Arsenal academy graduates who moved abroad – & how they fared

Arsenal’s academy blueprint is evident worldwide, with Gunners’ alumni playing football in almost every corner of the world.

Even after Arsene Wenger’s departure in 2018, Arsenal still produce professional footballers at a seriously impressive rate, even if not all of them become stars at the Emirates.

Plenty drop down the English pyramid, but we’ve decided to focus on Arsenal’s last 10 academy graduates to have moved abroad when leaving the club permanently.

Note – we’ve only included players who moved directly to a club abroad; not those who have left Arsenal and since played abroad at some point in their careers, or have been sent abroad on loan.

Folarin Balogun (Monaco)

In the summer of 2023, there was a lot of chat about Flo Balogun perhaps filling the striker-shaped hole in Arsenal’s squad. Eddie Nketiah had auditioned for the role but Mikel Arteta never seemed fully sold. Balogun, however had just returned from a loan spell at Reims during which he’d netted 22 goals for Les Rouges et Blancs.

Instead, the Gunners sold Balogun to Monaco, he returned to France, declared for the USA at international level, and endured a pretty poor second season in Ligue 1. Arsenal have turned Kai Havertz into a striker and, as it turns out, he’s pretty bloody good at it, so fair play to the Gunners’ decision makers. Credit where it’s due.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Lyon)

A versatile man, Ainsley Maitland-Niles. He’s a full back, a midfielder, and a winger, all in one. He’s kind of the London James Milner but ten years younger.

He was briefly the Roman James Milner—Giacomo Milnerus—when he joined Jose Mourinho’s Roma on loan for half a season, balling out with Tammy Abraham, taking chowing down on some carbonara round the corner from the Pantheon, discussing ancient politics with Chris Smalling aka Smaldini. 

Maitland-Niles’ first permanent transfer came in the summer of 2023, though, when, upon the expiration of his Arsenal contract, he signed for Lyon in France, becoming the French James Milner—Jacques Milneaux.

Hector Bellerin (Barcelona)

Your ruddy-faced Uncle Mike hates Hector Bellerin. Thinks Hector’s woke because he thinks women should have rights and that we should maybe try to stop wrecking the environment. And don’t get him started on the fashion stuff. “Stick to football, you wet wipe.” He says. Or words to that effect.

Well, your Uncle Mike is an angry testicle sack, and you can tell him we said that. Bellerin was superb when he broke through at Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. An attacking threat and recovery pace that left wingers wondering what to do with themselves.

Hector moved to Barcelona in 2022, had a little cameo at Sporting CP, and has now joined Betis, which just feels right. He looks class in those green & white stripes, and there’s f*ck all your Uncle Mike can do about it.

Dejan Iliev (AS Trencin)

Iliev is from Struma, which we’ve just learned is the largest city in southeastern North Macedonia, and also the hometown of the great Goran Pandev. Save that knowledge for when you need it.

The 29-year-old keeper never made a single first team appearance for Arsenal during his five-year stay at the club. He went on loan in Slovakia, Poland, and Shrewsbury before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in 2022.

He then signed for Trencin in Slovakia—former club of both Martin Skrtel and Leon Bailey—before brief spells in Helsinki and Sarajevo. Iliev recently signed for UTA Arad in Romania, who you’ll remember as the famous winners of the 1953 Romanian Cup if you’re Romanian and over 80 years old.

Matt Macey (Hibs)

To be fair, Macey only spent one year in Arsenal’s youth setup before signing a professional contract, and he was pushing 20 at the time. Still counts, though.

The keeper played a grand total of one competitive game for the Gunners before signing for Hibs in 2021 and spending a season-and-a-half up in Auld Reekie. Macey actually saved a penalty in the 2021 Scottish Cup Final but it wasn’t enough to stop St Johnstone coming away with the silverware.

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Chuba Akpom (PAOK)

Perennial loanmeister Chuba Akpom spent 11 years in the Arsenal youth setup, five years not really playing for the first team, and an awful lot of time being lent out to various Championship clubs.

In 2018, the forward finally made a permanent switch to PAOK in Greece, where he spent a couple of seasons before embarking upon a pretty successful stint with Middlesbrough. He’s now a regular for Ajax alongside Jordan Henderson and big Wout Weghorst.

Francis Coquelin (Valencia)

Coquelin was in and out of the Arsenal senior team for a full ten years before he left for pastures new, aged 27. He won two FA Cups with the Gunners during that time.

The tenacious midfielder signed for Valencia in 2018 after making 160 appearances for the club, and subsequently joined Villareal in time to help them win the 2021 Europa League.

He’s just been released by Villareal, with his contract coming to an end, and is currently a free agent.

Serge Gnabry (Werder Bremen)

Gnabry was on Arsenal’s books for five years, one year of which he spent in their youth setup, and one of which he spent on loan at West Brom, where Tony Pulis said he wasn’t good enough for the Baggies.

Anyway, he signed for Werder Bremen in 2017, Bayern Munich in 2018, and has now won five Bundesligas, a Champions League, two DFB-Pokals, a FIFA Club World Cup, and picked in both the Bundesliga and Champions League teams of the season.

West Brom finished as runners-up in the 2019-20 Championship season, which is basically equal to Gnabry’s accomplishments, isn’t it?

Johan Djourou (Hamburg)

Swiss centre-back Djourou was largely used as a sub or cover for the first XI during his decade with Arsenal. After a few loans, Djourou did a Kevin Keegan and swapped England for Hamburg, where he spent four years (including a year’s loan in 2013-14).

He went around the houses a bit after that—Turkey, Italy, Switzerland—and eventually retired in Denmark with Nordsjaelland, the former club of Simon Adingra, Mohammed Kudus, Stanislav Lobotka, and Mikkel Damsgaard.

Nicklas Bendtner (Wolfsburg)

Lord Bendtner, aka Nicklas Bendtner, is an unconventional man. He didn’t score an awful lot of goals, for a striker, controversy absolutely loved him. He fathered a child to the author of James Bond’s cousin-once-removed’s ex-wife, was handed a jail sentence for fighting a taxi driver in Denmark, and was nicknamed ‘Emperor’ at Rosenborg because they already had a player nicknamed ‘Lord’.

After ten years with Arsenal, and loan spells at Birmingham City, Sunderland, and Juventus, Bendtner joined Wolfsburg permanently in 2014. He ended his playing career with Copenhagen in 2019, aged just 31.