There is an endless debate about whether top teams invariably buy in top talent or whether they develop their own talent. Or indeed do both.

Of course it is one of those debates that is never resolved. Many fans want success now, and the notion of seeing a player develop and come up through the ranks is always secondary for them to bringing in a star and seeing everything come together.

So Arsene Wenger was criticised for throwing Bellerin into the mix, rather than buying another full back, although such protests then become muted over time as the lad’s amazing development has shown what a talent we had.

And besides taking young talent and allowing it to develop has always been the Arsenal way. Remember Tony Adams, or Paul Merson, Charlie George…

This story is repeated over and over: young players who show talent are loved, but they have to be allowed to develop. So when Ramsey was played out wide in order to help him develop his abilities, a certain section of Arsenal supporters, watching his performances, deemed the player himself to be useless and the manager to be likewise incompetent.

But as we have subsequently seen, these teething problems face all young players as they make their way through the ranks. Indeed even Koscielny, who week after week, despite a niggling Achilles injury, now puts in brilliant performances, failed to impress at start. “Clearly not up to it” as one of my colleagues put it to me.

The fact is that neither bringing players through the ranks nor buying in ready formed stars, nor indeed transferring in youngsters still part way through their development, is a guarantee of success.

If there were such a guarantee the clubs with all the money would be winning all the trophies year after year, and there would be no hope for any club other than Man U, Man C and Chelsea – by far the three richest clubs in the country.

There is more to it than that – which is why most teams mix the various types of players they find: the expensive buy in, the youngster transferred while not quite the finished article, and the youth player brought through the ranks.

What many people seem to forget, or at least I should say, this is how it seems to me, is that just because Arsenal or almost any other team wants a particular player, there is no guarantee that this player will come to Arsenal.

His current club might not want to sell him, he might not fancy living in London, he might not fancy playing alongside some of the other players we have, his agent might see a chance of more money with some other deal, and so on.

So having the choice of your own brought-through players as well as the expensive buy ins like Alexis and Ozil, really can help matters along.

Arsenal currently have a fair old smattering of players who have either come through the ranks from the youth teams, or been brought in young. We can think of Gibbs, Bellerin, Wilshere, Coquelin, the Ox, Ramsey, Walcott.

And there are more ready to join them including Martinez who played in a couple of European games this year, the defender Hayden, the brilliant Zelalem, Bielik purchased in the winter transfer window, Gnabry who we saw a few times last season but who has been hampered by injury this year, and Akpom. We are also told that Wellington, after four years on the road, is coming to Arsenal this summer.

What makes this mix of our own youth players and the transferred in players so powerful is that while the buy-ins bring readymade experience the youngsters bring dedication to the club. It is a potent combination.

Of course there are other ways of approaching this situation. Chelsea seem to be trying out something quite different with a system in which they have more young players out on loan than anyone has ever seen before (30 at the last count) and the main objective seems to be to sell on a few for a huge profit, while eventually letting the rest of them go. It is not how the system was meant to work, but it seems they are breaking no regulations by running the loans to such huge numbers.

But there is huge merit in Arsenal’s approach. Yes a lot of our youngsters do slip away in the end – often youngsters that we thought really might make the big time. Carlos Vela for example was tipped by many to be a future star, as was Joel Campbell. But in between such players who were good but not good enough there are the few who really do make it and that list above of seven members of the first team squad who have come through the ranks is impressive.

Indeed I can say for sure that there are a lot of other clubs in the Premier League who would give the proverbial arm and a leg for such a talented group to be on their books.

Buying in another Ozil or another Alexis is an attractive idea, but for the real development of the squad we need to stay with the present method.