GOAL takes a closer look at some of the Gunners’ worst transfers as their record-breaking signing prepares for a departure.
Arsenal have signed a number of world-class players throughout their long and illustrious history, many of whom have come under former manager Arsene Wenger over the last 30 years.
But for every Thierry Henry there has been a Francis Jeffers or a Gervinho: underachievers who, in some cases, were acquired at great expense only to be sold without a trace.
Perhaps worst of all was Nicolás Pépé. Signed for a then-club record £72 million ($88 million) in 2019. The winger had three memorable seasons at the Emirates Stadium before joining Nice on loan for the 2022-23 season.
With no going back for him in Mikel Arteta’s first-team plans, Pepe will now leave Arsenal permanently, so where does he rank among the worst signings in Gunners history? GOAL takes a closer look at 15 transfers Gunners fans would rather forget…
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15.- Gervinho (10.8 million free from Lille, 2011)
Arsenal signed Gervinho at a time when Lille had the likes of Eden Hazard and Yohan Cabaye on their Ligue 1 winning team. It should be noted that Wenger went after the wrong player as the Ivorian international was never able to move on with Arsenal following Samir Nasri’s replacement. .
Eleven goals in 69 appearances proved he wasn’t the right man to lead Arsenal’s attack and a terrible miss in front of goal against Bradford City in the League Cup probably best sums up his time at Arsenal.
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14.- Lucas Pérez (17.1 million pounds from Deportivo La Coruña)
Lucas Pérez rose to fame in LaLiga in the 2015/2016 season, with a good season that kept Deportivo La Coruña out of relegation trouble. His 17 league goals convinced Arsenal that he could be the solution to their problems.
Unfortunately for the Gunners, Perez turned out to be an absolute disaster. He scored just one goal in 11 Premier League appearances during his first and only season with the club, returning to Deportivo on loan the following season, before Arsenal transferred him to West Ham at a significant financial loss.
13.- Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux free agent, 2010)
Marouane Chamakh joined Arsenal on a free transfer from Bordeaux in 2010 and made a promising start to his time with the Gunners. However, the striker scored just 14 goals in 67 appearances before joining West Ham on loan in January 2013 as Robin van Persie’s promotion pushed the Moroccan striker out of the starting line-up.
Chamakh later revealed that he feels Wenger misled him about his first-team opportunities at Arsenal, saying: “I played for six months, I scored goals, I was decisive. In January (2011) Robin returned from an injury and from the evening to the morning he sent me to court without justification”.
“Of course I’m a little angry (at Wenger) because I think I deserved more playing time than they gave me. At the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the season, he told me we could change tactics and maybe I could play up front with Robin.”
12.- André Santos (6.2 million pounds from Fenerbahce, 2011)
André Santos was hired on the same transfer window as Per Mertesacker and Yossi Benayoun, joining Arsenal to remedy the club’s lack of a left-back.
However, due to his lack of pace and poor positioning, he was heavily questioned by both the press and fans, and his decision to trade shirts with Van Persie at half-time during the club’s 2–1 defeat to Manchester United only made her more angry.
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11.- Mikael Silvestre (750,000 Man Utd pounds, 2006)
Given the fierce rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United during the Wenger-Sir Alex Ferguson era, it came as no surprise that the arrival of Mikael Silvestre from the Red Devils was not well received by Gunners supporters.
The Frenchman did little to allay those doubts, having spent two years in North London as a support player and never approaching the level he showed at Old Trafford.
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10.- Stefan Malz (£650,000 from 1860 Munich, 1999)
Stefan Malz came to Munich from 1860 in 1999, but was unable to break through in midfield with Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Robert Pires, among others. He left just two years after joining, after just fourteen appearances.
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9.- Alberto Méndez (250,000 pounds from SC Feucht, 1997)
He may have arrived in the same year as Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars, but Alberto Méndez certainly did not follow in his footsteps. Signed by German side SC Feucht, Mendez ended his Arsenal career with just 11 appearances to his name.
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8.- Amaury Bischoff (free agent of Werder Bremen, 2008)
Wenger called the signing of Amaury Bischoff a “gamble” due to the midfielder’s history of injury problems. However, the move never paid off as even after returning to fitness, Bischoff found himself low in the midfield pecking order.
He revealed in an exclusive interview with GOAL that he decided to leave Arsenal due to lack of playing time, after seeing just 25 minutes of action in a lone Premier League match.
“It wasn’t easy (the decision to leave) because I got injured,” Bischoff explained. “But I came back and gave everything. Then the question arose whether I should stay or leave. I talked to Wenger and then we decided it was better to leave the club because I wanted to play more games.”
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7.- David Grondin (£500,000 from Saint-Etienne, 1998)
David Grondin joined Arsenal from Saint-Etienne at the age of 18, but made just one league appearance in five years with the club, before being sold to Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic.
“I was young and inexperienced at a very big club, full of great players who performed well. So I couldn’t go to the manager and tell him I had to be part of the team,” Grondin said. “Every time I came back to Arsenal after a period of absence, I started from the beginning, but I had to accept it. and work away hoping to be ready when needed.
6.- Park Chu-young (£5.5 million from Monaco, 2011)
In what is one of the strangest signings of the Wenger era at Arsenal, Park Chu-young has come out of a medical at Lille after being made aware of the club’s interest.
The South Korean was highly regarded in Ligue 1 and, having been given the number 9 shirt, scored on his Gunners debut in a League Cup tie against Bolton. His lack of playing time and doubts about his quality led him to leave the club in 2014 after playing less than 10 games.
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5.- Shkodran Mustafi (35 million pounds from Valencia, 2016)
Shkodran Mustafi arrived at the Emirates Stadium with good credentials after good stages with Sampdoria and Valencia. He started well and went 22 games unbeaten for the team, setting a new club record.
Despite his high transfer figure, the German defender eventually made a number of mistakes during his time with the Gunners, and by 2019 had already left the first team.
His contract was eventually terminated in February 2021 and he is currently without a club at the age of 31.
4.- Sebastien Squillaci (6.5 million pounds from Seville, 2010)
French defender Sebastien Squillaci was brought in to bolster an Arsenal defense line that was left with few options, but several early mistakes proved he was not up to the task. Squillaci dropped in the pecking order and was released in 2013.
3.- Igors Stepanovs (1.3 million pounds from Skonto Riga, 2000)
Igors Stepanovs was signed after Tony Adams’ injury, but after playing in the infamous 6-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, his confidence clearly took a blow from which he would never recover.
He made just 17 league appearances in four years before joining Grasshoppers Zurich.
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2.- Francis Jeffers (8 million pounds from Everton, 2001)
‘Fox in the box’ was the description Jeffers was given when he signed for £8 million ($10 million) from Everton for Arsenal in 2001. “We considered Ruud van Nistelrooy and Francis Jeffers and in the end we went with Jeffers,” Wenger revealed at the time.
However, Jeffers only scored eight goals and had several physical problems before being sold to Charlton Athletic for a fraction of what the Gunners paid in 2004. Van Nistelrooy, on the other hand, won the Premier League with Manchester United and twice. at Real Madrid.
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1.- Nicolas Pépé (72 million pounds from Lille, 2019)
When you spend a club record amount on a player, you want a guarantee of success. However, Nicolas Pepe, who was the most expensive player in Arsenal’s history until the arrival of Declan Rice in 2023, turned out to be their worst signing to date.
The Gunners earned a staggering £72 million ($90 million) following Pépé’s breakthrough 2018-19 season at Lille, where he scored 23 goals and provided a further 12 assists, but was never able to show that level to English football.
After a few regular seasons, he was no longer important at the Emirates and after a loan spell in France at Nice, he will leave in 2023.
Source: Goal