The challenge is whether English teenagers would be able to relocate as successfully as many Spanish, French and German boys have done in England over the last decade. The consensus is that many now want to do so, following the likes of Jadon Sancho from Manchester City to Borussia Dortmund, or Chris Willock who left Arsenal for Benfica.

Others, like West Ham’s Reece Oxford on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, or Chelsea’s Mason Mount treading a familiar path on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, are also demonstrating that this generation of academy players have the quality. If the next generation can be persuaded to move before they sign professional deals, then one of English football’s best tricks will have been turned back on the English.

The 16-year-old pre-scholarship boys will be the most obvious to target. European clubs that can map out a clear route to first team football, who can afford to pay competitive wages because they are saving on a transfer fee could potentially come up with a compelling offering to the best English boys. Those clubs in Europe now scouting them also know that ultimately, English clubs need English players for homegrown quotas so there will always be a lucrative market in selling the likes of Sancho back to them.

For years English clubs have stockpiled players without much of a challenge. Careers have been lost in the no-man’s-land between academy football and the first team, and ambition has been tranquilised by the arms’ race to pay the best boys bewildering salaries. It has created a peculiar dynamic at some clubs with 17-year-old boys earning salaries that dwarfed those of the men trying to coach them, with parental expectation spilling over, all without any guarantee of first team action.

It was always likely that something would give, and it is the players themselves who have identified the system’s flaws. English academies are producing boys who are better equipped for tournament football and who have experience of playing peers from all over the world. A new generation of innovative coaches benefiting from extended contact time has driven the standard up. The question no-one has answered yet is how good young footballers get into top clubs’ first teams, which is why many of them are now taking control of their own destiny.

Jack Wilshere should be grateful for Arsenal's offer

It has been a bruising few weeks for Arsenal, even by their standards, but of all their recent decisions, offering Jack Wilshere a performance-related contract is entirely sensible. The player himself seemed to suggest after the win over AC Milan that it was unacceptable and no doubt his advisors are comparing it to the wages paid to Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. To which the obvious answer is: try your luck elsewhere.

Wilshere will always have an emotional pull for Arsenal fans, and he no doubt loves the club. His injury record is unfortunate, with a high proportion of impact injuries, but it can hardly be ignored. The contribution of the club’s highest-paid players has been disappointing in recent weeks but that is not germane to Wilshere’s contract negotiations. It is about the pros and cons of what he offers, and the risk of giving him another long-term deal. There are many clubs that would have given up on him a long time ago.