Given that it is less than five months since he suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch during an FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, it still remains something of a miracle that Fabrice Muamba is still alive. It was little surprise, given the severity of the situation, that it was announced today that Muamba, at the age of 24, has been forced to retire from professional football.

The fact that he was able to carve out a career in the Premier League, first for Birmingham City and then Bolton Wanderers, however, means that he will still go down as one of the most significant graduates of the Arsenal Academy since it was granted official status in 1998. Muamba mustered just two senior appearances for the club at which he was reared, both of which came in the League Cup in the 2005/06 season, but he featured regularly for the club’s development sides and featured in Dennis Bergkamp’s Testimonial, the first game at Emirates Stadium, prior to joining Birmingham on loan in a deal which would later become permanent.

Although he was perhaps not of the quality to hold down a starting position at an elite club, Muamba did establish himself as a player capable of performing regularly in the Premier League, making many crunching challenges and using his leggy frame to good effect. It was somewhat fitting that Muamba’s final goal as a professional footballer came against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in the Carling Cup, the very competition in which he was first introduced to professional football.

He departed Arsenal in the summer of 2007, at which time Arsene Wenger had several defensive midfield options at his disposal, including the likes of Mathieu Flamini, Gilberto, Alex Song and Denilson. Having suffered relegation with Birmingham in his first full season with the Midlands club, he made the switch to Bolton four years ago, and went on to make 228 senior appearances during his club career, scoring 6 goals.

Muamba never came close to breaking into the England senior squad, but featured for most of the Three Lions’ development sides and amassed 33 appearances at under-21 level, the joint second most appearances for that age group.

It is a shame that the midfielder, who moved to England from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been forced to retire so early in his career, but he will always be remembered as one of the most promising players that the Academy has produced.