Over the summer Liverpool had a decision to make with their young striker Rhian Brewster. The 20-year-old had been tipped for greatness since winning the Golden Boot as England claimed the under-17 World Cup in 2017.
However, when given opportunities in Jurgen Klopp's first team, he had struggled to take them. This came to a peak when he was brought on to take a penalty in the Community Shield in August only to miss his spot kick and hand Arsenal the trophy.
This was enough for Liverpool. They saw the potential Brewster had, but with money required to build upon the success of their first ever Premier League title, the Reds decided to sell their prodigy to Sheffield United for £23.5m. Included in the deal was a buy-back option for three years and a 15% sell-on fee.
It was yet another showing of the kind of smart, decisive action in the transfer market that has helped transform them from a mid table side to European and English champions within the space of five years. It's safe to say this has not been the case at the Emirates.
Comparisons are often drawn between the project Mikel Arteta is currently a year into at Arsenal and the work Jurgen Klopp has done at Anfield over the past five years. Of course the German is a fantastic tactician and excellent motivator, but the key to his success has been shrewd operations in the transfer market. It is here that the Gunners should be looking to follow suit.
Right now there is something of a golden generation of talent coming through Hale End, with Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Ainsley Maitland-Niles all making a huge impact on the first team this season.
Another amongst them is Eddie Nketiah. When it comes to his current predicament at the Emirates though, his similarities with Brewster are clear.
Nketiah is the England under-21s' leading goal scorer of all time and has registered 42 goals in 52 appearances in under-18 and under-23 football for Arsenal. The hype around the youngster who has been compared to Alan Shearer is huge and his stock will probably never be higher than in this window.
Unfortunately though, he has, as of yet, not been able to carry that goal scoring prowess into first team football. In 33 Premier League appearances for the Gunners he has just four goals - although admittedly many of them have been as a substitute.
His pathway to regular first team football is currently blocked by Alex Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Gabriel Martinelli, meaning a consistent run of games in Mikel Arteta's side is unlikely to come any time soon. A move therefore may be in the interest of all concerned parties.
Squad building is an expensive process, particularly given Arsenal's stated aims of getting back to a place where they are ready to challenge for both domestic and European glory.
Liverpool have shown a nifty way of doing this without breaking the bank entirely. The Brewster case is not an isolated one in their recent history. Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward and Jordon Ibe were all sold despite similarly promising showing at youth level. The quartet ended up earning Liverpool a total in the region of £73m (as per transfermarkt).
When consider Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah together cost £74m, this is proof how, when done right, the policy of selling youngsters to fund improvements to first team can be effective.
Right now as Mikel Arteta looks to build his squad a creative midfielder is top of the agenda. Emilian Buendia and Julian Brandt are reportedly the Gunners top two targets and would likely cost in the region of £30m.
Given the continuing financial impact of the COVID pandemic that is currently out of Arsenal's price range. But with plenty of Premier League sides currently struggling for goals right, the sale if a young striker who has proven he can score goals like Nketiah could go a long way towards helping to afford that.
Nketiah is not the only talented young player on Arsenal's books who the club could look to move on to help fund moves to improve. football.london understands that Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson are also being considered as potential makeweights for transfer dealings.
Of course it would be sad to see such talented youngsters who have been with the club for such a young time leave, but there is little room for sentimentality in football. If the first half of the season has shown Mikel Arteta anything, it is that he needs to improve the quality of his team very quickly.
If Arsenal want to reach the levels of Liverpool, then they are going to have to start acting like them in the transfer market.
