Photo credit should read LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images

Transfers

HomeTransfersArsenalEnglish Premier League

Arsenal could be about to make a Cesc Fabregas style signing that should excite fans

Charles Jones

Sat 5 July 2025 10:45, UK

Arsenal have one of the very best academies in English football.

Indeed, the Gunners have a real knack of producing star players, Bukayo Saka is a world-class talent at this point, while Myles Lewis-Skelly has become a star in recent times.

On top of that, Ethan Nwaneri looks to have bags of potential too.

However, Arsenal don’t always get it right with their academy stars.

Mika Biereth was let go last year before becoming a brilliant striker for Monaco, while Arsenal dropped the ball with Harry Kane as a kid too.

Arsenal have made some big academy errors in the past, but they may now be able to put one of these errors right.

• READ MORE: Arsenal fans think ‘powerful’ player is now set to join alongside Martin Zubimendi in wake of club announcement

Arsenal could be set to re-sign Eberechi Eze

Arsenal released Eberechi Eze as a youngster, and that has proven to be a big mistake.

Eze has spoken about his Arsenal release and how it spurred him on.

“Getting released by Arsenal, it was obviously the first time I’d been let go or anything like that, so it was like ‘what are we going to do now?’ That was the biggest scare, the next thing was the confidence hit it takes as a child, all your friends are there getting their contracts, but you’re one of the only ones who was let go,” Eze said.

“Dealing with those dynamics were the most tough things, you can’t prepare for that.

“It was a huge shake-up for sure.”

Eze has since gone on to become one of the Premier League’s brightest stars, and now, he could be set for a big-money return to Arsenal.

Eze has been strongly linked to Arsenal, and the Crystal Palace ace could return to the club that once let him go for free.

Academy stars re-signing for former clubs is a rare phenomenon, but often these deals can work out very well.

Academy stars who re-signed for former clubs

It’s not often you see a big-name player let go as a youngster only to return at a later date, but it does happen every so often.

Perhaps most notably, Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United in 2016 a few years after leaving on a free transfer.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fans will be familiar with Cesc Fabregas’ career trajectory.

Fabregas left Barcelona as a teenager and would join Arsenal, but in 2011, the La Liga giants paid big-money to bring Fabregas back to Camp Nou where he would have a very successful spell back in Spain.

Mats Hummels also did similar with Bayern Munich over in Germany.

Now, Eze could be set to do the same at Arsenal, and this is a move that should have fans excited.

Players who return to their former clubs often arrive with a serious point to prove, and as Fabregas showed all those years ago at Barcelona, swallowing your pride and bringing back a former academy star can often be a smart bit of business.

Eze could be Arsenal’s equivalent of Fabregas at Barcelona if this deal goes through.