The first 12 months of the Post-Wenger era was a turbulent time. Arsenal spent ~£210 million on 11 players, and they did worse as a result of squad building issues. They also experienced a new member of the transfer team leaving or joining every 6 months which distorted the direction the club would end up taking. A lot of the individuals Arsenal signed in this period have become sellable assets (less so now due to behavior) or they’ve cemented themselves in the starting 11.
Gazidis, Sanllehi & Mislintat – Summer 2018:
Stephan Lichtsteiner – Bought in on a free transfer, Lichtsteiner was the perfect backup right-back for Arsenal on paper. But he was the complete opposite when he played for us. Apart from the goal he scored against Blackpool, he didn’t do much of note to help Arsenal on the pitch, with a lot of his supposed influence happening off the pitch.
Sven Mislintat recently defended this signing, saying “[Cech and] Lichtsteiner are prototypes of winners. They improve your whole team with their mindsets, just being in the dressing room. That’s why we added Stephan. He played 23 games in all competitions, he was meant as a back-up and came on a free. Tactically, he’s one of the best full-backs ever.” I don’t agree with what was said by Mislintat as players like Leo Dubois, Denzel Dumfries, Zeki Celik, and even Ryan Fredericks were all available for minimal fees & most of those names had good match experience at a time. Lichtsteiner was a failure for Arsenal.
Bernd Leno – Bernd Leno was one of Arsenal’s only agent-led deals of the Gazidis, Sanllehi & Mislintat era. He had a release clause of £18m but Arsenal paid £22.5m to get him in, but that doesn’t matter much as he has been a success for Arsenal, even if he hasn’t played the way expected of him. He was brought in to help Arsenal build from the back as Petr Cech was poor in that aspect. He had the ‘backing’ of Pep Guardiola (he was in the 2 man shortlist to replace Claudio Bravo in 2017, losing out to Ederson in the end,) so he was the perfect signing in theory for Arsenal to make.
He has had 2 and a half years of errors upon errors, and it’s unfortunate that he hasn’t played a big part in any of the domestic successes of Arsenal post-2018, but he has given Arsenal stability in a position where stable goalkeepers are hard to find. He has been a success for Arsenal.
Sokratis – Arsenal had Caglar Soyuncu on their radar with the club opting to sign Sokratis for ~£15m. The deal wasn’t good because Arsenal didn’t win that much with him (1 FA Cup,) and he was bought in to give experience to a backline that conceded 51 league goals in 2017/18. They ended up conceding 51 goals again in 2018/19, so It’s not as if Arsenal had a lot to gain from getting him in. I would say that this signing was a failure with all factors considered.
Lucas Torreira – I had so much hope for Lucas when he joined. Arsenal bought him in from Sampdoria for £26m which seemed like a great deal at the time. One of the best defensive midfielders in Italy & arguably in Europe joining Arsenal for a low fee, as players like Fabinho & Jorginho joined Liverpool & Chelsea respectively for >£40m.
At the start, Lucas Torreira was one of the best players I remember ever watching play. He could win every ball, dribble himself out of every situation & he got everyone on board in a way that not many other players could do. Then at the end of the 2018/19 season, after the Europa League final defeat, he began to dream of a move to AC Milan. A player that’s actively looking to play at a different club is a player who will throw away the next season, which is exactly what he did. Emery didn’t rate him as a defensive midfielder (which made sense, he wanted Partey that summer to play deep) and he played him in a more advanced position. Torreira began to sulk before Emery got sacked, and it took Arteta putting him in an easy role to play for him to possibly be good enough. With Ceballos’ emergence as Arsenal’s RCM after the lockdown period and the system change to the 3-4-3, there was going to be no way back for Torreira. So he was a failure, and unless Arsenal can sell him for £25m+, he would also be a bad investment by the club.
Matteo Guendouzi – I remember when Arsenal announced him, it was so sudden & it was in the immediate aftermath of the Yacine Adli saga which ended up with the player re-signing for PSG after reportedly being in London. I didn’t think much of the Guendouzi deal until one of Arsenal’s pre-season games and ever since then, I have had some sort of bias towards him until he went out on loan to Hertha Berlin.
Matteo Guendouzi 2019/20
Matteo Guendouzi was a success in the sense that Arsenal could sell him for £20m+, which is nearly triple the price they paid for him (£8m) but he could also be seen as a failure if Arsenal doesn’t get that money and because of him not hitting his short term potential at the club. I get that he’s an undisciplined player, a midfielder without a clear definition of what his main position is, but he’s the type of player you keep at the club and hope that he takes on your messages to improve.
Raul Sanllehi & Sven Mislintat – January 2019:
Denis Suarez – There Isn’t much to say about this deal. Arsenal bought him in after pursuing him since December 2018 (something I vividly remember) with Chelsea being the other club in for him before they went in strong for Nico Barella & Leandro Paredes, but Suarez didn’t have much game time for Arsenal (if any) because of an injury he had which progressively got worse to the point where his loan was cut short in the middle of March 2019. This was a failed loan move, and one I wished wasn’t riddled with injury woes.
Raul Sanllehi & Edu Gaspar – Summer 2019:
Nicolas Pepe – Arsenal’s £72m man, Nicolas Pepe has been one of those players who has divided opinion the second he came here. He had a rushed start as he was forced into playing more than Unai Emery wanted him to once Alex Lacazette sustained his ankle Injury in September 2019. Since then, he hasn’t had the best time at Arsenal, but he had an upturn in form during the FA Cup Semis/Final which gives me hope of him becoming a player that Arsenal can rely on as their attacking outlet in the future.
Nico Pepe – 2020/21
Looking at Nico Pepe this season, he hasn’t been great. He has had his moments & there are times where I love watching him, but he Isn’t Arsenal’s answer to the elite wingers in the Premier League, and he is fighting with a 19-year-old who is currently better than him to make the Arsenal starting 11 which sums up the transfer. At the moment, he is a failed transfer, but he could be successful eventually.
William Saliba – There isn’t much to say about William Saliba, he is one of the best young players in his position, but he has been mismanaged since he joined the club. I remember an interview where he said that he wished that he met up with the Arsenal team after he signed instead of going back on loan to Saint-Etienne and that would’ve made more sense as Arteta would’ve had to play him after he joined Arsenal. That being said, I won’t make a judgment on the player until this summer, if he goes out on loan again, he’s a flop but if he stays, he’s a success for the club.
Dani Ceballos – I do not like Dani Ceballos. He will have spells where he’ll be unplayable, and he will have spells where he would be a liability for the club (the last few EL games,) I get that Arsenal bought him in on a loan and he hasn’t been a bad loan signing, but he also hasn’t been a good loan signing. He is a flop for Arsenal.
Kieran Tierney – Without a doubt, Kieran Tierney has been a success for Arsenal. He had an injury-filled first season at the club until COVID-19 allowed him some time to recover & he recovered very well. He helped Arsenal win the FA Cup in 2019/20 & his ability to switch from LCB to LB to LWB in a matter of moments is one to constantly desire. Kieran Tierney is a huge success for Arsenal, and he is the best signing in the Gaspar-Sanllehi era.
David Luiz – He was who Arsenal needed when they were searching for a centre-back in 2019, but I had my doubts. Now I’m completely happy with him as a rotation option and for £8m he was good business no matter how you see it. In the FA Cup run, he was deployed as a CB in a back 3, a position where he operated best & he was able to help Arsenal to win the competition. Now, David Luiz was a successful signing for Arsenal but to make his Arsenal legacy better, a Europa League win is vital.
Gabriel Martinelli – Despite his injury woes in the last 9 months, Gabriel Martinelli has been a success for Arsenal and I can’t wait for him to get back to his best. He was instrumental in helping Arsenal get through the early games in the EL/Carabao Cup with a few great performances, and he stepped up with 3 G + A In 3 games when Aubameyang was suspended. For those reasons, Gabriel Martinelli is a success for the club.
Last Thoughts:
Arsenal has made some good signings in this era, but I can only make a case for 5/11 of them being good signings & for the other 6 to either be inconclusive or for them to flop for Arsenal due to how they performed when they were at the club. It doesn’t help when you experience constant change and then having people who like buying different types of players replace one another. I hope there’s consistency at the board-room level now, as that’s what any top club needs to be free of most of their problems.