9 forgotten Arsenal academy graduates who became cult heroes elsewhere

Arsenal have produced plenty of world-class players over the years, although not all of them make the grade at the Emirates.

For every Tony Adams or Bukayo Saka, there are countless examples of other Arsenal academy graduates who forge a career for themselves elsewhere.

We’ve looked through the players the Gunners have produced in the past and have found nine of them who became cult heroes elsewhere.

Emiliano Martinez

The Argentine goalkeeper spent two years in the Arsenal academy before he was promoted to the senior squad in 2012.

While he never quite made the grade at the Emirates, he’s since transitioned into one of the best goalkeepers in world football today.

The 32-year-old has won the Yashin Trophy for two consecutive seasons and is currently enjoying another eye-catching year with Aston Villa.

And that’s without mentioning his World Cup heroics back in 2022. Arsenal definitely dropped the ball when letting Martinez leave.

Serge Gnabry

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.

After being shipped out to Werder Bremen in 2017, Gnabry moved to Bayern Munich a year later and has won pretty much everything on offer in Bavaria.

“[Arsenal] had so many wingers at the time – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, [Tomas] Rosicky, Theo [Walcott], [Santi] Cazorla, Alexis [Sanchez], Mesut Ozil – so I just had to go,” Gnabry said in 2019.

“I was still confident I could’ve got in the team but I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want to be fourth or fifth choice any longer.

“It was the hardest decision I had to make in football, leaving a club like Arsenal – the fans, the players – but to keep playing I had to take a step back and it was the right decision.”

Donyell Malen

Malen joined the Gunners from Ajax’s academy in 2015 and boasted an impressive goalscoring record in the youth teams, scoring 27 goals in 67 games.

He was never given an opportunity in the first team at Arsenal and was sold to PSV in 2017, but has made a real name for himself in his homeland and with Borussia Dortmund.

Malen is now back in the Premier League having signed for Aston Villa in January 2025.

Eberechi Eze

Eze spent five years at Arsenal’s academy but was released at 13 after being deemed too small by the club.

The future England international had unsuccessful stints at Fulham, Reading and Millwall but has been a revelation for Crystal Palace since moving across London from QPR in 2020.

His form in the second-half of the 2023-24 campaign was enough to earn him a call up for the European Championship squad and spark rumours of a transfer to Manchester City.

But his performances and goal contributions have dipped in the current campaign. Perhaps Eze will soon show why form is temporary and class is permanent as part of Palace’s general upturn.

Chuba Akpom

Perennial loanmeister 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. Some career.

Alex Iwobi

After a few up and down years with Everton upon leaving the Emirates in 2019, Iwobi is arguably playing the best football of his career right now down at Fulham.

The 28-year-old has started in all 22 of the Cottagers’ Premier League matches this season and has chipped in with 10 goal contributions during that time.

Dwight Gayle

Having left Arsenal as a teenager, Gayle worked his way through non-league before making his Premier League debut at 22 with Crystal Palace.

He moved to Newcastle in 2016 and hit 23 goals as they got promoted from the Championship.

Existing in the nether zone between too good for the second tier and not quite top flight standard, Gayle is respected by both clubs and West Brom (22 goals in 2018-19) for his exploits in front of goal.

Mika Biereth

After impressing while on loan with Sturm Graz, the deal was made permanent over the summer and Biereth went on a mental goal spree.

The 21-year-old scored 11 goals in 16 league appearances in the first half of 2024-25, alongside providing five assists, and earned himself a January transfer to Monaco.

Arthur Okonkwo

Following a successful loan spell with the club that ended in promotion, Wrexham signed Okonkwo on a three-year deal following his contract at Arsenal expiring.

The 23-year-old has quite the reputation for himself in the EFL as he’s been among the best goalkeepers in League One this season.

As of writing, he’s kept nine clean sheets from just 16 appearances which are very impressive numbers.

If he maintains those standards for the remainder of the season, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the Championship next season with Wrexham or somebody else.

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