Welcome to the 20th and FINAL chapter of my Football Manager 2022 story with Arsenal.
In this series, the aim was to win either the Premier League or the Champions League with a team consisting mostly of graduates from the Arsenal youth academy.
I will finish this story off with the 2025/2026 season review, before looking at how all our homegrown stars have developed over the past five years. (HUGE spoiler alert: if you haven’t read Season 5, Part 4 yet, you might want to do that first!)
2025/2026 SEASON REVIEW
| Fans’ Player of the Season | Yunus Musah |
| Young Player of the Season | Yunus Musah |
| Signing of the Season | Ainsley Maitland-Niles |
| Goal of the Season | Cody Kane (vs Cambridge, 10 January) |
| Top Goalscorer | Eddie Nketiah (23) |
| Most Assists | Bukayo Saka (15) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Yunus Musah (8) |
| Highest Average Rating | Yunus Musah (7.55) |
In 2023/2024, Arsenal picked up 88 points and were still seven behind the champions Liverpool. This season, we also picked up 88 points… but finished top by five points! While our title rivals had all stuttered in the run-in, we held our nerves and romped to the championship by winning our final six matches.
In truth, our record against the rest of the top four was not great. We picked up only two points from our six matches against Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool – and scored two goals, both against United.
Thankfully, there were 16 other teams in the league, and we were incredibly efficient against them. After drawing 1-1 at home to Chelsea on 6 December, we did not drop any more points against teams from outside the top four. It’s a very different story from last season, when we couldn’t even beat Brentford!
We scored 96 goals – not quite the 107 we managed a couple of seasons back, but still far more than anyone else. We outscored our xG by 8.55, created just under 18 shots per match, and had a 14% shot conversion rate. Only United scored a higher percentage of their shots – and they had Erling Goddamn Haaland.
We also boasted the division’s meanest defence, shipping just 23 goals. Our xGA was 37.88 – almost exactly 1 per game – but our opponents had a miserly 6.5% conversion rate. Aaron Ramsdale‘s 82% save rate also underlined just how vital England’s number 1 was to our success.
In terms of average possession, we were mid-table with just 49%. Our biggest strength was always our quick counter-attacking play, so I’m not upset we didn’t hog the ball like Manchester City (58%). At any rate, possession is overrated on FM22, and it can be skewed by weaker teams frequently playing the ball back and forth between their defenders.
Here are our academy players’ season stats, which shows just how heavily we’re developing homegrown talent now. Eight players made at least 20 starts – and seven players provided at least 10 goal contributions.
Only midfielder Charlie Patino and forward Marcelo Flores failed to get their average rating into the 7s, though they each had their moments and contributed positively enough to keep me satisfied.
Eddie Nketiah once again finished as top scorer with 23 goals – a tally he’ll be slightly disappointed with, having had a particularly barren run in the autumn. Fortunately, Folarin Balogun was usually prolific enough when he was needed, while both Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka were highly creative on the wings. However, there was one player whose performances really stood out…
This was the season of Yunus Musah. Considering he spent the first few weeks of the season recovering from a leg break, his form as our most attack-minded midfielder has been truly devastating. Even if you only look at his Premier League record, Musah scored 14 goals, made 7 assists, and had an average rating of 7.55.
No wonder, then, that Yunus was voted the player of the year by both the PFA and the Football Writers’ Association! Maybe he can follow that up by leading Team USA to glory at their home World Cup this summer?
Musah and Nketiah were among five Gunners named in the Premier League’s Team of the Year – along with Ramsdale, centre-back Gabriel and playmaker Martin Ødegaard. There were also five players from our nearest challengers Manchester United, plus a single player from mid-table Leeds United, because reasons.
It was also a successful season for several of our loanees. Gavi‘s creativity inspired Inter to a Champions League Final and another Serie A scudetto. Midfielder Alan Wilding and winger Harvey Elliott were both integral to Swansea’s promotion from the Championship, while forward Omari Hutchinson and wonderkid goalkeeper Gavin Moth took Millwall back up via the League One play-offs.
And there was even more success for our age-group teams. The Under-23s regained their U23 Premier League title, and then defeated Leeds to win the Premier League Cup for the THIRD year in a row.
Our Under-18s also saw off Leeds in the FA Youth Cup Final – our first victory in that competition since Jack Wilshere’s class of 2009. They then went on to win the U18 Premier League at long last, seeing off Manchester United 2-1 in the Final.
THE HALE END HEROES: THEN AND NOW
Now it’s time to celebrate those homegrown boys who won us the title – and look at how their attributes have developed over the past five seasons:
First up, we have the aggressive Northern Ireland stopper Daniel Ballard. After two seasons developing on loan at Millwall and Vitesse, he has been a semi-regular first-teamer for three years now. He started just over half our PL games this term, posting a 7.01 average rating.
Though Dan’s tendency to dive into tackles does cause some issues from time to time, he’s as solid as they come – all his important attributes for a centre-back are 14 or higher. An aerial beast with hardly any noticeable weaknesses, he could easily slot into most Premier League defences.
Patino was probably the top prospect in our Under-23s side when I arrived at the club. Now aged 22, this creative and technically gifted playmaker is starting to reach his full potential.
Charlie is a tad frustrating and lacks consistency, as his 6.84 average rating shows. On the positive side, he thrives in big matches – scoring the equaliser in the last North London derby to turn that game around – and made a career-high six goal contributions this season. When Ødegaard does finally move on, I’m confident Charlie will be ready to fill his shoes.
Musah was one of my most important signings of this save – probably THE most important. Back in the summer of 2022, I paid Valencia an initial £30million to bring the versatile American back to the club where he started his career.
After a steady start to his second spell in North London, Yunus made steady progress with each season, eventually finding his calling as a Central Midfielder on ‘Attack’. Despite breaking his leg last April, he returned for the 2025/2026 campaign even better than ever, getting 28 goal contributions in all competitions! Powerful, creative, resolute – what more could you ask for?
Smith Rowe also had to work his way back from a serious injury. A hard-working dribbler who could play either as an inside-forward or an attacking midfielder, he was on the verge of England stardom until he broke his leg during our run to the 2023 Champions League Final.
After that setback, it took Emile a couple of seasons to rediscover his best form, grabbing 13 goals and 14 assists in the 2024/2025 campaign. That form finally got him to the England squad, and though he wasn’t quite as sensational in our title-winning campaign, he was still invaluable to the cause – especially after Reiss Nelson joined Barcelona.
The main reason I had for selling Nelson was to integrate Flores into the first-team. The Canadian-born Mexican had made steady progress over the past four seasons, spending the better part of that out on loan in the EFL. After inspiring Middlesbrough to Premier League promotion last spring, I felt he was ready for the big leap.
While Marcelo has not yet developed into a top-quality inside-forward, he has still been a pretty useful presence on that left wing. Combining his exceptional flair with good dribbling skills, he scored three goals and also delivered seven assists this season. It’s too early to tell whether he can be a long-term starter, but the signs are promising.
Back in 2021, Saka was a precocious right-wing talent who had a point to prove after a costly penalty miss in the Euro 2020 Final. While he has only featured sporadically for England since then, he is now firmly established at Arsenal and closing in on 200 PL appearances for the club.
For my first four seasons, Saka’s form often fluctuated from outstanding to awful, never recording a season average rating over 7.05, and a string of injuries further hampered him.
Things finally clicked when I changed my tactics, giving Bukayo a more attacking role – and more options to cross to. The results were spectacular, as he got 6 goals and 15 assists in an injury-hit 24-game campaign. Keeping the resilient 24-year-old fit will be crucial to any long-term success at Arsenal, as he is now regarded in-game as our ‘Key Player’.
Every championship-winning team needs a star striker, and Nketiah has become ours. With his blistering pace, endless energy and ice-cool finishing ability, he has wreaked havoc among opposition defences over the past five seasons, scoring 129 goals in 211 matches. (In fact, only Ramsdale has played more games for Arsenal during this save.)
Nketiah was at the peak of his powers in 2023/2024, finding the net a whopping 42 times across all competitions. Though he has never quite managed to prise the Premier League Golden Boot away from Haaland, he is now regarded as one of the game’s most-feared strikers.
Eddie might even break Thierry Henry’s record of 175 league goals for Arsenal one day. He is currently on 94 PL strikes, and will shortly celebrate his 27th birthday.
Our second-choice striker isn’t too shabby either. After two prolific seasons on loan at Middlesbrough, Balogun broke into our PL squad in 2023 – and the American international has shown from time to time that he can give Nketiah a run for his money.
Flo’s best season to date was that breakthrough 2023/2024 campaign, where he netted 21 times, though this season’s haul of 16 was still impressive for a backup. While he does struggle for confidence during barren runs, he would be quality for most continental teams. Balogun will shortly turn 25 and may well seek a big transfer to a club where he would get more first-team football.
Lastly, I want to have a look at some of our top newgen talents, of which one has already broken through and become a first-team regular. Left-back Sean Fallon was the jewel of our 2022 youth intake, and boy is he living up to the hype!
Fallon has made rapid progress over the last four years, especially after a season on loan at Swansea. Having matured into a ‘Model Citizen’ with an exceptional work ethic (and plenty of defensive nous), I thought he was ready to step up.
A string of injuries to Kieran Tierney meant that Sean had to play in more matches than our vice-captain this season, but he rarely looked overawed, even on the bigger stages. He’s already physically and mentally formidable, and once he starts fully developing those technical skills, I’m sure he’ll become a key player for club and country.
If I was to continue this save in the future, Victor Quintyne would probably be the next newgen to break into the senior squad. Boasting exceptional playmaking skills and off-the-ball intelligence, he has enjoyed a sensational season on loan with Reading. When Vic first came into the youth team, he was considered only a 2* potential striker, but retraining as a midfielder has really brought the best out of him.
Wilding’s progress hasn’t been as rapid as Quintyne’s, but the 19-year-old still has the potential to be an effective attacking midfielder. 18-year-old striker Conor Whitty scored his first Premier League goal against Everton on the final day, and 17-year-old Ed Crittenden looks like a future defensive rock.
THE END
In the summer of 2021, I took over an erratic Gunners side that had failed to even qualify for Europe. Now, I have rebuilt it into a title-winning squad, with a strong core of academy graduates.
In truth, winning the Premier League with a ‘Big Six’ club isn’t the toughest task in the world. You could easily buy up all the top wonderkids like Joško Gvardiol, Manuel Ugarte and Benjamin Šeško, and with a decent tactic, you could win everything within 2 or 3 seasons. That wouldn’t make for an interesting read, would it?
Focussing heavily on player development, and forcing myself to start a certain number of youth graduates in each match, really added to the challenge. Developing young talents like Patino and Fallon through the ranks and into dependable PL players made it all worthwhile.
This challenge also forced me to think long-term with my squad-planning – one season ahead, maybe even two. I had to anticipate when a young prospect would be ready for the rigours of top-flight football, and decide which established Gunners should be sacrificed to make space for them.
I didn’t always get it right. Signing Gavi from Barcelona wasn’t really necessary when we already had a playmaking superstar, and trying to fit him in probably delayed Musah’s breakthrough as a regular starter by about a season. Though Gavi has flourished after two years out on loan, I probably wouldn’t have bothered signing him in hindsight.
I also spent a bit too much time faffing around with tactics. Things seemed to be heading on the right track when we finished runners-up in 2023/2024, but then I tried too hard to outsmart the bigger teams – and lost sight of what made us so ruthlessly efficient against the lesser teams. Following some inconsistent results, we didn’t look like serious contenders until I recommitted myself to the high-tempo counter-attacking strategy that had served us so well.
Arsenal won five trophies in my five seasons as manager – before becoming champions, we claimed two EFL Cups, an FA Cup, and a Community Shield. The only honour we lacked was a continental trophy, and we twice came tantalisingly close, losing the 2023 Champions League and 2024 Europa League Finals.
I do wonder what could’ve have happened if things had ended differently on that night in Istanbul, when a last-minute offside call against Nicolas Pépé – and a couple of missed penalties – cost us the Champions League against Manchester City.
Our next two attempts to win Europe’s biggest prize both ended in narrow defeats before the Semi Finals. Part of me would like to give this competition one more shot. We’ve certainly got a strong and close-knit squad that can seriously challenge the other elite teams.
But no, I’m going to call it here. Having completed the main challenge by winning the Premier League with a team comprising mostly of academy players, and with Football Manager 2023 just on the horizon, I’ve decided to finish the story as a champion.
Of course, with several exciting talents in the Arsenal academy still hoping to fulfil their potential, I am very tempted to continue this save ‘offline’ – and build a genuine homegrown dynasty in North London. If FM23 turns out to be a fat load of disappointment, I might well pick this up again in the future.
But as far as this blog story goes… nah, that’s all he wrote.
And so my Arsenal rebuild is complete. I hope you have enjoyed following this youth challenge – perhaps it might have inspired you to try something similar on FM23?
I’ll be posting a blog update on Monday, when I’ll deliver my final thoughts on FM22… and lay out my future plans for Fuller FM as FM23 nears its release date.
Until next time, thank you for reading.
Fuller FM 
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