Warning: sententious tl;dr sermon prompted by the swirling emotions of the transfer window follows.

Olly Girude wrote:
I think Gnabry and Aneke are ready for first team action. That's because they are quality footballers. They're the future years profit

Nail on head.

THIS SUMMER: Van Persie's been sold for maximum return, Song's been let go before his contract expires, Walcott's likely to be let go (unless he accepts a low-ish package) just as all of these players reach what we imagine to be their peak.

THE SQUAD:

Affordable, experienced "moneyball" signings: Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla, Arteta, Arshavin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna, Gervinho.

Why were they cheap? Different reasons: lower profile, needed to exit a bad situation, relaxed personality, injury prone, came from a weak league, unfashionable position, have a reason (eg "loyalty") to be at Arsenal. Flawed.

Misfits and players becoming failures: Bartley, Lansbury, Bendtner, Denilson, Park, Vela, Wellington, Chamakh etc.

We've jettisoned or exiled a bunch of weaker youth players and failed senior projects. They are sold, loaned or sidelined.

Youth in development: Gnabry, Aneke, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere, Gibbs, Miquel, Ramsey, Jenkinson, etc.

(We hear) Gnabry's going to be fast tracked into the first team to replace Walcott along with a dose of Oxlade-Chamberlain, both players well under 20. Wenger's on record saying he's looking for British youngsters because of a belief, misplaced or otherwise, that they'll be less likely to move on - in other words, there's some chance they'll stay on the books for Arsenal money*.

THE SPLIT:

"Moneyball" pros
Misfits under contract that we want to get rid of
Youth players still a work in progress

THE INEVITABLE PROBLEMS:

Flawed experienced players declining to misfit status
An ongoing population of misfits
Youth players completing their development and being sold

In one, two and three years we'll be pointing out that players (such as) Podolski and Cazorla are overpaid "problems" (as per Rosicky and Arshavin now) and we'll be selling Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs and any other top quality youngster who's hit his prime and come out of contract. And we'll probably still have Diaby in the squad pissing people off, because he's not that bad and not that expensive.

But not because these things are avoidable - because they're an inevitable consequence of our squad management strategy.

OUR HYPOCRISY:

We should stop saying things like "if we just hang on to our stars, sign a few pros, and wait for our youngsters to develop" we'll win something, while also praising our acumen in the transfer market.

The latter is predicated on the opposite of the former. Our profitability in the transfer market has been, and continues to be based on keeping our squad at a sub-optimal level of quality.

THE SOLUTION:

The only real way to fix our problems is to abandon the plan, and focus on winning to the detriment of our profitability, and not vice versa.

If Walcott leaves now, it will suggest this is a false hope