Arsene Wenger has signed some great players over the years, here are the ten best.
10. Aaron Ramsey – 2008, £4.8m
After being made a scapegoat by Arsenal fans last term, Ramsey is currently one of the most in form players in Europe after bagging 11 goals in just 18 appearances so far this season. Wenger has admitted the playmaker took time to recover from an horrific leg break in 2010 but, at 22, he still has time to develop into a world class talent. Wenger payed Cardiff City just £4.8m for the Wales international, and that fee is beginning to look like a real bargain now.
9. Freddie Ljungberg – 1998, £3m
Though the Swede was never a key figure in the side, he was a major team player throughout most of the side’s success of the late ’90s and early ’00s.
Purchased for just £3m as a little known player from the Swedish leagues, he quickly slotted into the side’s free flowing style and set about bagging 71 goals in 313 appearances. His versatility and class provided Wenger with a number of different tactical options and allowed him to set his team up to counter his opponents in a variety of different styles.
Ljunberg won five trophies at Arsenal during his tenure, rewarding faith inWenger’s decision to bring him to the club.
8. Marc Overmars – 1997, £5.5m
The diminutive Dutchman took to life in the Premier League with consummate ease, mostly because nobody could catch him, and the fleet footed winger soon became one of the manager’s most trusted men.
Having arrived for the modest sum of £5.5m, his value increased greatly whilst under Wenger’s wing and he was sold on to Barcelona for a sum of £25m three years later.
His record of 40 goals in 136 appearances was highly impressive for a winger and his was also one of the first deals that showed how intelligent Wenger could be in the transfer market.
7. Nicolas Anelka – 1997, £500,000
From a financial standpoint, Anelka’s signing was probably Wenger’s most important, as it highlighted what his blueprints for the club were over a long term period.
Anelka arrived in England as a petulant teenager for a meagre sum of money but quickly became a household name with a series of explosive performances that belied his tender years.
And then 23 goals in 65 appearances later he was sold to Spanish giants Real Madrid for £22m in 1999, and though he never fulfilled his potential with the Gunners, his contribution and sale set the club up for success further down the road.
6. Gilberto Silva – 2002, £4.5m
After catching the eye of many a European manager with his performances at the World Cup in 2002, Wenger pounced quickly to bring him on board from his native Brazil for a modest sum of just £4.5m.
And he was worth every penny as he became a mainstay in the side’s midfield for the next six years, acting as the lynchpin in the midfield that protected the back four, and he played a massive role in the side’s unbeaten march to the title in 2003-04.
It was only when Matthieu Flamini began to breakthrough that his influence started to diminish.
5. Mesut Ozil – 2013, £42.5m
Though he may not have come cheap, his signing could prove to be tremendously valuable to the overall moral of the club.
His arrival came at a time when fans were rapidly losing faith in the manager and the Emirates faithful needed a big money, big name signing to give the club a boost.
And it worked almost immediately, the side then went on an long unbeaten run to the top of the Premier League table and now have the scope to go further and finally end their eight year trophy drought.
4. Robin Van Persie – 2004, £2.75m
Signed for peanuts from Dutch side Feyenoord, he helped the club bridge the transition from having Thierry Henry, to not having Thierry Henry.
When he was fit and firing he was so rarely ever off form, however, injuries so often took their toll on his knees and the club were frequently robbed of a forward leader, which in no doubt contributed to the club’s continued absence at the top of the table come May.
Sold in 2012 for an initial fee of £22.5m to Manchester United, where he won his first Premier League title, though he may regret that now…
3. Cesc Fabregas – 2003, Free
One of the most popular players to pull on the club’s shirt in a long time, Fabregas joined on a free transfer as a boy and left for an astronomical fee as a man eight years later.
He quickly became one of the best creative midfielders in the world, and captained the north London side within a few short years, but unfortunately for the Gunners, he began to long for a return to his home country and club, and was eventually sold back to Barca.
2. Patrick Vieira – 1996, £3.5m
Vieira was languishing in the Milan reserves when Wenger came knocking, and in bringing him to the club he secured the services of one of the finest centre midfielders there has ever been.
A commanding skipper and warrior, he was at the heart of everything Arsenal won during their purple patch and was smartly sold to Juventus for a fee of £13.75m just before his powers began to decline.
The France international won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in north London.
1. Thierry Henry – 1999, £11m
Thierry Henry scored 228 goals for Arsenal – a total that is the most in the club’s history, passing Ian Wright’s record easily along the way.
The flying Frenchman showed brilliant skill, finishing and leadership, and his partnership with Dennis Bergkamp has to be regarded as the most aesthetically pleasing in football history.
A sad day when he was sold, he enjoyed a brief loan spell back at the club in 2012 that saw him net a goal against Leeds United in the League Cup, and though the pace may not have been there anymore, the entertainment value was still high.