After assessing how Arsenal’s first-team loanees performed, here is a look at how the academy players on temporary transfer have got on during the 2023-24 campaign.
Catalin Cirjan returned to Romania with Rapid Bucharest and started off well by getting an assist against Universitatea Cluj in one of his early matches. However, Cirjan lost his place in the side and the talented midfielder was mainly an unused substitute in the latter stages of the campaign. Another loan could follow.
Mauro Bandeira was loaned out for the first time as he joined Colchester United, but the loan was cut short midway through the campaign as he made just two starts in League Two. Bandeira was subsequently named on the bench for the Arsenal first-team but could leave permanently.
Billy VIgar spent the season with Eastbourne Borough and made 32 appearances, scoring two goals. The experience that the forward gained could help him to earn a permanent switch elsewhere.
Hubert Graczyk joined Slough Town on loan but the deal was cut short after just four games. The goalkeeper returned to Arsenal but found himself on the periphery of proceedings for the U21s and could now depart permanently.
The biggest success story of Arsenal’s loanees this season has been Mika Biereth. In the first half of the campaign, Biereth made an impact for Motherwell as he scored six goals in 15 appearances. He then headed to Sturm Graz in the second half of the campaign and continued to impress, scoring nine goals in 22 games. Biereth helped Sturm Graz to a league and cup double and it will be intriguing to see what the next steps are for him.
Charlie Patino was on loan at Swansea City, with his spell there somewhat mirroring his time at Blackpool. Patino started the season well with three assists in his first four league games but featured less prominently following a managerial change. The midfielder may well look to leave Arsenal permanently this summer.
Brooke Norton-Cuffy has built up plenty of experience of senior football in recent years and he played 40 times while on loan at Millwall. Norton-Cuffy often featured as a right wing-back and was a mainstay in the team before losing his place in the starting lineup towards the end of the campaign. Arsenal face a decision on his future this summer.
Tyreece John-Jules‘ season was, once again, unfortunately disrupted by injury. The forward played 14 times for Derby County but didn’t feature after January as he suffered another blow on the fitness front. A permanent departure could follow for the skilful 23-year-old.
Salah-Eddine endured some difficult moments while on loan at Den Bosch as he didn’t play regularly early in the season. However, he concluded the campaign very strongly and produced some excellent performances, which included three league goals. Another loan or perhaps a permanent move could be next for Salah-Eddine.
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji was on loan at Cheltenham Town for the first half of the season but is still waiting for his first senior goal. Butler-Oyedeji featured for Arsenal U21s in the second half of the campaign but could now leave permanently.
Henry Jeffcott, who is now another candidate for a permanent departure, made four appearances on loan at Derby County’s U21 side.
Omar Rekik certainly endured the most frustrating season out of all of Arsenal’s loanees. He was initially at Wigan Athletic, where he didn’t feature as much as he would have liked. Then came the ill-fated switch to Servette, who he didn’t end up playing for because of a registration error by the Swiss side. Rekik is another player who could leave Arsenal on a permanent basis.
Goalkeeper Brian Okonkwo had two non-league loan spells, featuring briefly for Leatherhead and Cheshunt before returning to Arsenal, where he gained experience at U21 level.
Centre-back Alex Kirk played a part in Bromley’s promotion from the National League and could be a candidate to join them again in League Two next season.
Kido Taylor-Hart was also part of the Bromley squad but wasn’t a regular in the side. The winger has already confirmed that he will be leaving Arsenal this summer.
Late in the Winter transfer window, Khayon Edwards secured his first loan move as he headed to Leyton Orient, with the striker making seven appearances.
Zane Monlouis linked up with Reading but played just one game.
Charles Sagoe Jr, meanwhile, played just twice for Swansea City after joining in early February and could go on loan again next season.
Jeorge Bird's Arsenal Youth 
Thanks for that Jeorge.
Mika Biereth has done really well whilst out on loan, enhancing his value and possibly putting himself in the frame if he has a good pre-season and impresses the coaching staff.
Hopefully we will get a good offer for Biereth. Can’t see any of them being in the first team squad next season, so off-loading a few for as much as we can get is the priority.
Appreciate the thorough summary, Jeorge, as always.
I feel somewhat disappointed though how these academy players turned out. It’s difficult to assess what went wrong, sometimes it’s the coach, sometimes it’s the management, often the players character or their agent/family, and probably most of the time it is just bad luck.
Just a few years ago we were all keen here in your blog and tried to evaluate
and obviously there were players at the other end of the scale
apart from the sad categories
My problem is the trend that continues from last season when we most of our past favourites turned out to belong to type E (Azeez, Ibrahim, Alebiosu, Smith, Möller, Cottrell) and could only get a few pounds for Flores, who already had 3 senior caps under his belt (group F). And we had Hutchinson who demonstrated that sometime the wisest possible decision is to leave Arsenal, as you can compare his trajectory with KTH’s who was equally talented to Omari a couple of years ago. Lino Sousa* has already followed suit, and I’m afraid there are more to come, including but not limited to Reuell Walters. We’ll know about ACD in a month…
Now we are approaching the next summer, and based on the – really accurate and unbiased – summaries above, we will release some of the lads, allow most of them on a free transfer (including past wonderkid John-Jules who used to sit on the first team bench under Emery and Ljungberg, Butler-Oyedeji, Henry-Francis, etc.) The 3 players who might generate some revenue are Patino, BNC and Biereth, but we have already lowered our expectations from group A to C or even F.
*Decisions Arsenal should really regret