One of my favourite moments of the season came last week, watching Arsenal's Max Dowman break forward from his own penalty area to score a goal that sealed his side's Premier League win over Everton.
Young homegrown talents are always appreciated by their team's supporters and from what I've seen so far of the 16-year-old, Arsenal fans are going to enjoy more special moments from him in the years to come.
But for every Max Dowman who emerges from the academy system and achieves his dream of a career in the professional game, there are thousands of other boys and girls who don't make it through the different stages, and have to deal with a crushing rejection at a young age.
It is these players who drop out of academy football that I am concerned about, because I don't think the current system does enough to inform them about their chances, or look after them when they are discarded.
It needs an overhaul and when I retired from management in 2020, I compiled my own report into the academy system, including proposals for how it could be improved, then spent almost a year filming a documentary series for Sky Sports about it, called 'Chasing the Dream'.
